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APPLETON SERIES IN SUPERVISION AND TEACHING 
EDITED BY 
A. S. BARR AND WILLIAM H. BURTON 


THE SUPERVISION OF 
INSTRUCTION 


APPLETON SERIES IN 
SUPERVISION AND TEACHING 


EDITED BY 
A. 8S. BARR 


Associate Professor of Education in the University of Wis- 
consin; Formerly Assistant Director in Charge of Supervision 
in the Detroit Public Schools. 


WILLIAM H. BURTON 

| Professor of Education in the University of Chicago; Formerly 
| Professor of Education in the University of Cincinnati and 
| Director in Charge of the Supervision of Teachers in Training, 
Cincinnati Public Schools. 


VISITING THE TEACHER AT WORK—by C. J. Annrrson, 
Dean of the School of Education in the University of Wis- 
consin, A. S. Barr, and Maysett G. Busy, Supervisor of 
Elementary Grades in the Wisconsin State Department of 
Public Instruction. 


| THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION—DbDy A. S. Barr 
; and Witi1am H. Burton. 


1 THE ORGANIZATION OF SUPERVISION—By Fnren C. 
Ayer, Professor of Education in the University of Texas; 
Formerly Director of Research in the Seattle Public 
Schools and A. S. Barr. 


1 THE SUPERVISION OF SECONDARY SUBJECTS— 
Edited by Witu1s L. Unt, Dean of the School of Education 
in tho University of Washington, and others. 


THE SUPERVISION OF ELEMENTARY SUBJECTS— 
Edited by Wit1t1am H. Burron and others. 


RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION—y C. J. Anprrson. In 
preparation. 


THE NATURE AND DIRECTION OF LEARNING—by 
Wuiuam H. Borron. 


Other Volumes to Follow 





— 


THE SUPERVISION OF 
INSTRUCTION 


A GENERAL VOLUME 


BY 


A. S. BARR 


PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN ; 
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR IN CHARGE OF SUPERVISION IN TH 
DETROIT PUBLIC SCHOOLS 


AND 
WILLIAM H. BURTON 


PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO; FORMERLY 
DIRECTOR IN CHARGE OF THE SUPERVISION OF TEACHERS 
IN TRAINING, CINCINNATI PUBLIC SCHOOLS 








D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
NEW YORK LONDON 


CopyRIGHT, 1926, BY 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 


All rights reserved. This book, or parts 
thereof, must not be reproduced in any 
form without permission of the publisher. 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


PREFACE 


The purpose of this volume is to present the general 
problems, principles, and procedures of supervision. The 
material included has been drawn chiefly from three 
sources: first the experience of the authors in teaching 
for several years past general introductory courses in the 
field of supervision and the improvement of teaching; sec- 
ond, the experience of the authors as supervisors and di- 
rectors of supervision in various places; and third, from 
an exhaustive and critical survey (a) of current practice 
in supervision, and (b) of the literature in the field of 
supervision. Effort has been made to present a well-bal- 
aneed, sound, and progressive theory, copiously supple- 
mented by practical case material from the field. 

No attempt has been made to discuss any one phase of 
supervision in detail. Many of the topics treated in a 
general way in this volume need further study and elab- 
oration, and this will be cared for by other volumes to 
follow in this series. One chapter in this volume, ‘‘ Visi- 
tation and Conference,’’ has already been expanded into 
a more comprehensive discussion under the title Visiting 
the Teacher at Work, by Anderson, Barr and Bush. 

Scientific materials have been used whenever available. 
Upon some topics excellent studies were found, particu- 
larly upon the problems of the organization of supervision, 
curriculum construction, and the use of tests in supervision. 
On many topies little or no experimental data were avail- 
able, and the authors have relied upon expert opinion and 


authority. One of the great needs of supervision is for 
Vv 


v1 : PREFACE 


more factual material. With the express hope of encour- 
aging investigations of the problems of supervision, the 
chapters on ‘‘The Improvement of Teaching Through Re- 
search and Experimentation’’ and ‘‘The Scientific Study 
of Supervision’’ have been included. 

The book is designed to be of use to superintendents, 
general and special supervisors, principals, teachers, and 
as a text for beginning and advanced classes studying su- 
pervision. The simple discussion of general principles and 
the large amount of concrete material will be of value to 
inexperienced supervisors and to beginning students. Ad- 
vaneed and technical discussions, together with suggestions 
for research are available for the experienced supervisor 
and the advanced student. 

It has been the policy of the authors to use quotations 
liberally in two respects particularly: first, in the case of 
controversial issues; and, second, in describing actual prac- 
tice in the field. Supervision is developing rapidly and in 
the case of certain problems no final answer can be reached 
at this time. No one is in a position dogmatically to lay 
‘down the law. Therefore quotations have been used lib- 
erally in presenting all phases of such issues. In describ- 
ing practice in the field it was deemed better to cite actual 
statements from superintendents’ bulletins and circulars, 
rather than to write second-hand descriptions. Notwith- 
standing the general character of the volume, no pains 
have been spared to make the materials definite, specific, 
and conerete. 

The quotations used have been included through the 
kind permission of authors and publishers, and these per- 
missions are gratefully acknowledged. The list is too long 
to include here but credit is given to each author and 
publisher in the footnote accompanying the quotations. 
Those selections from books copyrighted by the Houghton 
Mifflin Co., are reprinted by permission of, and special ar- 


PREFACE Vii 


rangement with, that company. Thanks are also due to 
Dr. W. L. Uhl and to Mr. C. J. Anderson, who read the 
manuscript in its entirety and who supplied many helpful 
suggestions. 

Readers familiar with Burton’s Supervision and the Im- 
provement of Teaching will recognize certain passages and 
principles as having been carried over from that book. 
The present volume is, however, in no sense a revision or 
rewriting of the older presentation. 

















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CONTENTS 


PREFACE ...... Sees e, ys A cae MO ite DR pte AS ea ay a en 
CHAPTER 
2 LE MIRED VOR RSURERVISION¢s. sa/- cists swisiee 2 sci oats Sage 
What teachers expect of supervision.............. 
What do superintendents expect of supervision? .. 
Whate do-~Superwisors2dg.? Os). pau wrsih adie <tel pr sheie secs sees 
How is supervision defined by educational theorists? 
A working definition of supervision ............... 
CriGieisins OL BUDCL VLSI Olan Merit ohe Mites chicas y Biko ceciets 
II, THE ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION OF SUPERVISION..... 
The organization of supervision a difficult problem. . 
Hiywe LLGm proven) warOse we wie. see ms cies cet at oe es 
DLR UCMON TST OL OOUCY Gil. ets 's cern a str isve ait's s Ona See 
Oaklandes CAiOruis. so a dee ence es ss 6 an ieartts senate tat 
RIGLEUL Rte WLIO ID Aaleree ier ste ails wel c the ats ete soe a's ArASE 
Hiferiow loncners: Colere, pts. LOUIS nic. se. crisie 
Elements of agreement and disagreement in the sev- 
Le LATS an Matera elgte tates steelers ters creer ests ts tie ere 


Supervision without supervisors, Madison, Wisconsin 
Unit supervision versus subject supervision, Chicago, 
AEE Uta Nets cools sxe steele sins crane ac ete ete sist ase + ees 
Proper balance necessary between authority of prin- 
eipal and expertness Of “SUPETVISOr. 2.20. oes es 
Pea MV ASIINO LO 2a sta eee cst s cae ele ses «fh cars Tere 
An effective supervisory organization must utilize 
the contributions of teachers, supervisors, and 
Ret aS LT CON Ree aan seek mnie e's fre Ste ete ater f gtel satis 


Statistical studies of present practice in the organiza- 


MO es DOTVIbIOU tess sles aictabais » 2g 0's 5 etalate tneievate 
What is the purpose of supervision? .............. 
The percentage of cities employing subject super- 

AROS SDR taste tee pia! WV Ava oie: state A aieiel persia! a) Sataahet iatste 
To whom are supervisors responsible?.............. 
Under what restrictions do supervisors work? ...... 
What is the administrative relation of the special 

supervisor to the building principal? ........... 
Who is responsible for the course of study? ....... 
May the teacher follow her own course of study? .. 
Who is responsible for methods of teaching? ...... 
From whom do teachers receive orders or directions? 
To whom do teachers look for assistance? ........ 

ix 


45 


Hs CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 
Are teachers rated and by whom? .....ssssseeees 62 

What practice shows about the organization of su- 
PETVISION?? i. Ais. cishe state le: hale, Wialed ateliat geet cnet chert, aC at ct ane U aaa 63 
Supervision in large and small cities ............. 64 
The :traveling teachers (rei Waa kaa oi clais-ule eiecmeienne 65 
State and county supervision ....... Beton et adie s oie Ta 66. 
Some general principles of organization ...,....... 66 
TTEe PRINCIPLES |.0F “SUPERVISION@: 1.0 on clecan wierrate ois eer ene 73 
MeMurry ’s primciplesiay sci. oa teed tare ies crap Seer 74 
Bobbitt’s principles of scientific management ...... 74 
Hanus’ ‘principles of fadministration sas. 6) saat. sans 76 
Kilpatrick’s ‘‘Principles of Sane Supervision’’ .... 77 
Burton’s: statement of principles i. A see wee 82 
Barr’s Detroit statement. of principles... iv... 83 
LV. ‘THe PLANNING: OF SUPERVISION Gav ewes cae erm 87 


Planning is a fundamental principle of supervision.. 87 
Theoretical support for the principle of planning ... 87 
Practical support for the principle of planning .... 90 


Some’ samplé supervisory, plans. <i. \.5~ see) ee 91 
Checking or testing the supervisory program ....... 106: 
The steps in planning ‘superyvasion: . 2.0 wc). ayo ones oe 107 
ReLPNATWaet Nm erent rile ih ur Aa airway ae iin yA oe t sdeuate tmnt cron 109 
V. STUDYING THE WORK) OF THE JT BACH ER |. sity ciche| sian eta 113 
Study the teacher at work to get the facts ........ 113. 
Facts ;otten dificult. tO. Seb vxte «. a0 = anieed pie neneenene 114 
Methods of securing objective data .............. 115. 
Thewaetivity pan alysis. och aco» 4's aie eins ohne iees eene 116. 
How to’ use, the activity analysis... «acct aiiemteerte 118 
A general scheme for gathering data .............. 119 
Samples of specialized outlines and check lists .... 122 
StuGyIN Si LHe | PUPILS siretenw o) ofehs'a wial ayia obsen ls pecan eee 129 
Studying (the: teachers. ack); « <uve sels pietaiee eee 131 
Objections to the ‘activity analysis... ..0cseeiaes 132 
SSRLITIA TV" nid soles eiaisteee cintal siete cite meters PEMD pte ee 136 
VI. THE IMPROVEMENT or TEACHING THROUGH VISITATION 
AND“ CONFERENCE ¢. t's a/c /o' he de Oils is ae aaeeehaede ene 141 
The importance of first-hand contacts with classroom 
WOU iiss. Aine cialatshs «is aces achat en © ata ae 142 
General policy regarding visitation ...... a aeons bite 143 
Lypes OL conferences 7.".). .. «sie ave ce ce eee 158 
General policy governing conference .........+..-- 159 
The criticism of teaching a difficult task .......... 164 
The characteristics of good criticism .............. 165 
The conference should be professional in character... 171 
The ‘follow-up ‘conference 5.2. .ses-ns 40 ceca cee 173 
The pre-teaching conference .......... overs alee aan 174 


Summary 


CONTENTS x1 


CHAPTER PAGE 
VII. THE IMPROVEMENT OF T'EACHING THROUGH BETTER SELEC- 
TION AND ORGANIZATION OF SUBJECT MATTER .... 187 
Selection of subject matter an important means of 
training Teachersianyiservicein. fay.aie eos. 189 
Standards for judging the teacher’s choice of sub- 
MCOUAMA ELON Aiioig s- Mietelelpleteie this « Llalants wl etevel skis l'eyo. 6 «3.5 190 
MrOMUrry (8 AStandaras Fick. storie ere vad ae ew waleters <5. oieve 190 
PP REKETIS pPIITICL OOS Oy wrisie soli Sala e visit NiS wien bo west 191 


Selection of subject matter in accord with social needs 192 
Selection of subject matter in accord with the prin- 
SiONOLATCIALIVO! VAMICS c..c 1. snore Peelper tia ss als Gio 196 
Organization of subject matter so that fewer topics 
are treated intensively rather than many extensively 199 
Organization of subject matter in terms of the learner 


instead of in terms of the subject ............. 201 
Other discussions of subject-matter selection ...... 207 
The doctrine of formal discipline as a factor in sub- 

Ject-matter Selection y <.%lslaies utslete ss etAGtpeIIO fs a sie 8's 209 
Apeactivitics jcurriculum Vi. a2 lactate eatate eats, on 8s 210 


Present standards for judging the teacher’s selec- 
tions of subject matter not entirely satisfactory.. 213 

Improving the teacher’s selection of subject matter 214 

Supervisors are primarily interested in course-of- 


SHUM MAKING wih erate yr <4) fous aarelslaimwie eG E's ele: bias 215 
Steps involved in curriculum making .............. 215 
Organizing for course-of-study making ............ 219 
The organization necessary for making the course 

iis HEU Vaasa tls. «(iiss Giaiara ore Hately whelsvel Acetone, « «ole ee 221 
The purpose of the course of study ............06. 223 
Courses of study seldom fulfill these purposes ...... 224 
What present courses of study contain ........... 225 
What courses of study should contain ............ 226 
Checking the effectiveness of the course of study.... 238 
Summary outline for judging courses of study ..... 249 

VIII. THE SELECTION AND STANDARDIZATION OF THE MATERIALS 

RMON STRUCTIONT » ahrtivey es <'eatts siete eek ins sie apabl masks 255 
The selection and standardization of instructional 

pre verials Mm portant 70 Oa oe Na 255 
Close codperation necessary between administrators 

RIMMRE UCT VIBOP ET «os ce We ee fh kb Mtaienie & ben alates 255 
Most teaching is textbook teaching ............... 256 
Pupil experiences limited by classroom equipment .. 256 


Classroom teachers are not trained in the use of sup- 


Plomentary \CquIPMeNt (a We ww wan ee ewe dele ese e es 257 
PHS aeBOIGCLIOTNS UlseCORLOUOKS Oe .c0 Weck cals tied els ase a 4 257 
The development of standards for tne selection of 

TURLODOKS ela ve oteeto win Sia crete Le PL a LO A aS 258 
BPO OS TASK MOR ears tatetsla rotates grate 'stalata ota etatalete diale wb. aye a 268 
Standards for purchase and distribution of textbooks 270 
A textbook accounting procedure ................ 271 


Purchase and distribution of instructional supplies.. 280 


Xii CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 
IX. THE USE OF EDUCATIONAL TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS IN 
THE [MPROVEMENT OF TEACHING .........- ¥ayetenere 294 
Measurement essential in supervision ............. 294 
Tests..are not new ‘in’ educations -25') a2 viet... es were 294 
Teachers’ grades are not always reliable .......... 295 
The traditional examination is not so efficient as the 
standardized. : testy oi fount. tet eres «fe oct kreta etre ores 296 
The measurement of human abilities presents many 
difficulties eR SEPA OS ee re tee te sp cca 297 
Thorndike’s classic discussion of the nature of meas- 
TOMENG so ies PA Sik ate thers eh Sateen ie crete abeteny er oneneE 299 
Kinds of tests available for supervisors ........... 300 
Educational: s testa oc. aera oc ae atte ae aya a aieenans 301 
Intellivence™ tests ree. occa tie «sien terete ere e eee tenia 301 
Limitations of intelligence tests ....s00..---secoes 302 
The ‘selection of* tests? Ss oe a Re, Ce ates « sted ge 
How to administer a testing program ............. 305 
Tabulating: ther results+ oc) t cs. sasha + ome ohare 312 
The interpretation of results and the prescription of 
remedial PMeAsurTeS <1, aie'ecs he ees were niet ete ieee 313 
Some general supervisory uses of tests and measure- 
MONGS OT. SOI ete ee teeta ce aEE gl Met et eee oie 318 
The classification and promotion of pupils ......... 318 
The measurement of instructional outcomes ........ 320 
Measuring the efficiency ofthe teacher ............ 323 
The use of measurement in teaching .............. 325 
Educational fdiagnogsisys'e isc eat eecs conus reeerets aaa 329 
Educational and vocational guidance ............. 334 
Research: and’ experimentation 25% ero eee eee . 335 
X. THE IMPROVEMENT OF TFACHING THROUGH RESEARCH 
AND . EXPERIMENTATION 215%... s/t lo acre cl staan ata 341 
The‘ scientific ‘method .0e eee kb eee 341 
Methods of determining truth. 0s... Gis aeeee se ee 341 
The development of these methods ............... 342 
Authority, speculation, and scientific method in edu- 
CAELOTL! ia: 5, aicpe s lareva lars’ wie tale neie cial ee plated ah eee 344 
The need for scientific method in education ..... ‘ee 346 
Thomson’s description of the scientific method .... 349 
A summary statement of scientific method ........ 349 
Defining and formulating the problem ............. 351 
The collection of -datasiivck Gagee ruwiemiea bite eee ae 352 
Analysis and) classification, of data, os. cicswdess oe 360 
Hypothesis (', 5 s:<'s cle ois Senile wiateiaah medear are peter tate eee 362 
Verification and experimental testing .............. 363 
Formulation wiv satsa Os viatde deeds ee thie ela ee 364 
Some applications of the scientific method to edu- 
CAELON | a u's xg bine o> 0 oso wip saps Sis ty ee 265 
The: statistical; method ss <rsdwyceiee Wes ee ean: ae 366 
The group-experimental method .................. 368 
The ‘laboratory ):method « 21.Gib.b cients ee 373 


CONTENTS Xili 


CHAPTER PAGE 
THOM nIstOM COL MCthOU Wise Sek Sa sitle Chee elt ells. 375 
PREROCHOLICEIMOLHOGE statshe Cai aeh. fare sn fal ene elda 6 5. lai 377 
PUANMIGY Ve Soa LCIIONh, | Hsrcrstel Git. als Pit Dane! alot Glolls noe e os 377 

Or rai 7G slOlied OFs TOSCAICH pacisriecteccuspoieiseass “lle Med acy ose 5's 378 
The research bureau and the improvement of teaching 378 
The functions of the research bureau ............. 378 
The public school teacher as a research worker .... 385 
The organization of teachers for research ........ 387 
Other means of stimulating research ............. 399 
Disseminating information concerning scientific re- 

BOALCILAe clemirte vn tania cle, afataucle dict oem eioiele Rib} alsin «/4) 0's a: 399 


XI, GENERAL DEVICES FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OE TEACHERS 


INP VICI ar cl sealants Scie te <i Slitn ois erpsv fen 3 pistelt ©'8 «0 403 
Should teachers be expected to improve in service?.. 404 
PL OTUGI VIRGIL OLE ACLIVICION matic nist t <tile outset’, sittins i ses o's 410 
PUGACHETS SE INCOUIN Pancras 2 os latelacstiaihia cc caimebalal tts os atnte 410 
EGU UBLI ALO at sre he dnt. ses» ya ie crete ala «waco ded eee pee alesis S 414 
Topics for teachers’ meetings, institutes, conven- 

EIOVIG, BOUC e naons tale) ony one Sacte, olor aEG ohonaraiet Maal oan eRe ates © 423 
ADE Or Ones egg tear S tatters, oossins eh cs> cise! «te snafeha GRINS whe os l= 427 
PIB MOU TS DOUGH a cue iten Sulerate 2) cus waste jal caaseisbotstele.s = v.0 + 427 
oMOnSEPALIO Led GOIN Pie ayn lolih walteaviaatiataters. © se hie 428 
Emergency demonstration .......... Et epi 2 430 
Directeds OUservationt Ole teaehin Oye. dais weete ss alee « 431 
PEC OCCUMICOAGIIINID', Pate eee ctetc nats incense te wie sige tne: «Pan a 432 
PILAR VISILALLOU TNMs csc Ohl, nebo kly lek iyi robelet cae Sole g 43 
AO TOO Te ROSONEO Oe ole ae oes Cela st binltloe) a's» a6 434 
Extension courses, correspondence courses, lectures, 

DIMELLA SOLO! ais f'n whist se wma leo ja le ete che ete +o Sara oe 435 
Bulletins, handbooks, and other printed aids ....... 436 
ise S MNCS CEXNLOILS 2. aiernieis & mim <ivim » atthe ajays; anehs es 436 
PRCIOIREMCI Se Corel Me vial 1a shore Reem g ble esd igh aia 6 5 ios 437 
The merit system of promotion as an improvement 

RIULCEUMNPATIIEID pre's. Pentel atatels Dahlin cd ebeielels, Cede Whee loca cla «she 437 
Participation in the determination of policy, making 

PMU LTICIININS, | OLCo satinace race ee eae > 4 cielo ele 438 


The rating of teachers and improvement in service.. 439 
Improving the teacher in fields other than the techni- 


DME aE calc CotS Saat ee ale ole were AG tharahciais' a caer ats 439 

XII. EVALUATING THE EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS ............ 448 
MOG PO RHE ORG TALIN Oars RAW wiahs sha os usyvin’s signin’ cajalylare « 449 
PACUDITISLLALLVE PUISCS ED CRTALIUL Gray a'sl he seals tie cue c's on ti 450 
Arguments advanced against rating .............. 457 
BOerVIsOrvnlUsed (OLeTAtING oe nett wo fee e's ase. s.0, 2s 463 

PROSE ACUSS OT STOR SL a samc se oeeuiers tie aialerdalets aa inla''s'e 466 

SERS ROLGTA Ang CATAS bie eee et, ee arc re tecelate teres. =<: 468 
deaching, not teachers, to be rated .........23.-6. 480 
BMI TY Seeratetat ans SRO hs ete sooo in lec ae tee ene Gis x once ae 486 


xiv CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 
XIII. EVALUATING THE EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS.........- 
Criticisms of supervision from teachers and others. 
Administrative demands that supervision justify 
IUSOLL iw ca Sip eles ss Hens SI alts aU eisig dy emi 
Who then shall rate the supervisor? .......... a wate 
Teachers must not only contribute to supervision, but 
must also pass judgment pte the worth of super- 


VIBLOM Pais PO ass a Speco a steer tres alata eis ot ee etek 
What are the factors upon which teachers may be 
expected sto. pass jgudement:2) iti taints ie oteisigis ores 


Administrators must have a system of checks through 
which they may judge the worth of supervision. . 


XIV. THE TRAINING AND PERSONALITY OF SUPERVISORS ....... 
The / training Of/supervisOrs:=..0.t see ste ys eit sel alee 
General> statémentss.. 3 ese: 2 se et ee 0 elton one 
Reduction of these general statements to specific re- 
CUITEINONIS 4 hate isis es cae fa ess ee eee 
Guidance obtained through a study of controversies 
regarding supervision: 2.0’... . o/s 6. 
The ‘personality jof the supervisor... 2... 2/04. . oe mee 
Taylor’s list of desirable traits of the supervisor .. 
Wagner’s list of misconceived supervisory types .... 
Kelley’sssupervisory, types s,s 10s. ceteris gi ene 
A brief summary of desirable traits .............. 
Can personality be developed? \.) 270. vas omer 


XV. THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION.... 
Studies of the value of supervision ......... é eer 

Studies of the administrative ticionagete of super- 

VISION .. 6. cece ce essegecccsceessostcncercreacn 

WIG as iaigaeinte aoe 4.473 ee oka te 
Analytical studies of teaching 
Reavis’; student-accounting j.6%. ..dicule cule ae 
Barr’s time-chart studies of teaching.............. 
Waples’ study of the initial difficulties in high- 
SCHOOL each ig cose ie 06 91d «oly ine clu k a Oa 
Some needed research in supervision .............. 
There are many unsolved problems in supervision... 


ee ecocavetin st eeu eces need oe es 02 @€ 0 6 00 © 8 8 6 a & 6 © 6 4S 6 SO 6 88 8 6 6 ee 


THE SUPERVISION OF 
INSTRUCTION 


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7 





THE SUPERVISION 
OF INSTRUCTION 


CHAPTER I 
THE FIEL) OF SUPERVISION 


What is supervision? What are the specific activities 
which constitute the field of supervision? What are the 
limits within which supervisors should work? How is 
supervision related to administration and administrative 
functions and in what way is it different? 

Supervision, although a part of the educational program 
for several decades, has only recently won recognition as 
a specialized phase of that program. Now, however, it is 
recognized not only as a specialized field, but also as the 
foundation upon which all programs for the improvement 
of teaching must be built. Traditions, standards, tech- 
niques, and principles are being evolved, and a technically 
trained personnel is rapidly materializing. 

As supervision has developed in importance and in tech- 
nical expertness, definitions have also been evolved. The 
earliest definitions were, according to Coffman, ‘‘grimly 
humorous.’’ He cites the following, gathered from writers 
of distinction: * 


The business of a supervisor is to cast a genial influence over 
his schools, but otherwise he is not to interfere with the work. 


1L. D. Coffman, ‘‘The Control of Educational Progress through 
School Supervision,’’ Proceedings of the National Education Associa- 
tion, Vol. 55, 1917, p. 187. 
1 


2 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Supervision is taking the broad view, the general view, and 
seeing the back and middle grounds as well as the foreground 
with its details. . . . Supervision is the vision in the old and 
beautiful sense of seeing things invisible. 


The supervisor, in relation to the scholarship of his schools, 
is as a traveler going into a far country to earn wages and to 
bring back treasures from its vast stores of wealth. In relation 
to the children and youth, the supervisor is as a pioneer going 
into a great wilderness of primeval forests to make there a home 
of civilization. In relation to the schools, the supervisor is as a 
sea captain of the medieval time upon a chartless sea. 


' Later attempts have been much more to the point. In 
1914, Elliott? in distinguishing between administration, 
supervision, and inspection, defined supervision as follows: 
“Supervisory control is concerned with what should be 
taught, and when it should be taught; to whom, by whom, 
how, and to what purpose.’’ 

In the address above quoted, Coffman acy gucee this defi- 
nition: 


The four duties—the laying out and prescribing of materials 
of instruction, the thinking of teachers and teaching in terms of 
efficiency levels, the use of standardized tests and scales, and the 
improvement of the teaching act through criticism of instruetion-— 
constitute the scope of supervision. 


Considerable work has been done by Dr. Ramis W. Dunn 
in attempting to differentiate supervision from administra- 
tion. She suggests as a definition of supervision the fol- 
lowing: ® 


Instructional supervision, therefore, has the large purpose of 
improving the quality of instruction, primarily by promoting the 
professional growth of all teachers, and secondarily and tempo- 


2K. C. Elliott, City School Supervision (World Book Co., 1914), 
p. 12. 

3 Fannie W. Dunn, ‘‘What Is Instructional Supervision?’’ Pro- 
ceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 61, 1923, 
p. 763. 


THE FIELD OF SUPERVISION 3 


rarily by correcting deficiencies of preliminary preparation for 
teaching by the training of teachers in service. 


Many other definitions of supervision could be cited to 
show the growing concreteness of statement, and the greater 
agreement upon the central functions of supervision. The 
betterment of the learning conditions for the pupil is the 
goal. This is to be accomplished by supplying the condi- 
tions of teacher growth. 

In order to show the development of a comprehensive 
definition, let us examine the field from all sides. We may 
begin with the persons supervised. What do teachers re- 
gard as the proper activities of supervision? What do they 
expect of supervision? Next, we may inquire what super- 
intendents and administrators regard as the work of the 
supervisors whom they employ. <A third attack may be 
made by studying the activities of successful supervisors. 
Finally, the writings of leaders in educational thought may 
be examined in order to secure the contribution of the 
theorist, who may or may not base his discussion on prac- 
tice. <A careful analysis of these four points of view should 
give a safe basis for a delimitation of the field of super- 
vision. 

What teachers expect of supervision. Gray reports a 
study in which teachers were asked to list the problems on 
which they needed help. The problems listed below are 
approximately in the order of their frequency, and typical 
9f those that-will confront the supervisor: + 


1. How to teach pupils to read silently and to study effec- 
tively 

2. How to conduct supervised study periods effectively 

3. How to secure an adequate amount of appropriate reference 
material 

4. How to teach problem-solving exercises effectively 


4W.S. Gray, ‘‘ Methods of Improving the Technique of Teaching,’’ 
Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, December, 1919, p. 268. 


4 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


5. How to conduct a socialized recitation effectively 
6. How to keep bright pupils busy and slow ones up to 
standard 
7. How to secure better home work when there are no super- 
vised study periods 
8. What are the most prominent outcomes of instruction in 
each subject? 
9. Where to place the emphasis in each subject and how to 
progress with sufficient rapidity 
10. What are appropriate standards of work for each grade? 
11. How to find the most effective helps for teaching each sub- 
ject, such as maps for reference, devices, supplementary 
material, ete. 
12. How to interest and control unruly pupils 
13. Special problems relating to particular subjects 
(a) How to teach such texts as Tarr and McMurry’s 
geography when pupils are unable to read them 
understandingly 
(6) How to make language work as interesting as arith- 
metic 
(c) How to make the work in geography interesting to 
all pupils 
(d) How to make knowledge of correct forms in English 
function in free expression 
(e) How much time should be spent in map study in the 
seventh grade? 
(f) How to teach long division effectively 
(g) How to stress industrial and commercial geography 
in a vital way 
(h) How to secure correct movement and letter form in 
all written work 


As Gray’s study is now seven years old, a comparison 
with a very recent inquiry will be profitable. A class of 
eraduate students at the University of Cincinnati—many 
of them experienced teachers—were asked to write a paper 
as follows: Make a list of the problems that you have pre- 
sented, or that you should like to present to your super- 
visors for assistance. A very long list was compiled, of 
which the items below are a sampling. It is interesting to 


THE FIELD OF SUPERVISION D 


note that the wording of some statements is almost identical 
in both lists. It is also to be noted that the Cincinnati list 
covers a much greater range of duties and includes certain 
more technical problems. If both groups were typical for 
their time, the difference may be due to the development 
of supervision during the interim, or to the greater train- 
ing and experience of the second group. The problems have 
been grouped roughly, although the classification cannot be 
rigid. 


Problems of General Method: 


1. Definition and interpretation of such terms as project, 
problem, problem-project, socialized recitation, conversa- 
tional method, developmental method 
2. Technique and devices in conducting problem-solving exer- 
cises 
3. Technique and devices in conducting socialized recitations: 
(a) How to organize children for language work 
(0) Howto secure maximum participation in codperative 
composition 

(c) How to develop a courteous constructive attitude in 
children while they are correcting the work of 
each other 

(d) How to stay on the topic 

(e) How to use references and make assignments with- 
out crowding the children for time and without 
interfering with the natural sequence of the dis- 
cussion 

(f) How to train children to listen while others are mak- 
ing contributions 

4. Aid in introducing the Dalton plan in our school 

5. How to organize drill lessons on a scientific basis 


Problems of Special Method: 


1. Devices for developing sentence sense in young children 
2. How often should we have written composition? How long 
should these compositions be in the different grades? 

3. Should compositions be rewritten after correction or not? 
4. Is the writing of the statement of the problem in arithmetic 

a waste of time or not? 


6 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


5. Should a child with neat characteristic handwriting be made 
to change to the system taught in the schools? 

6. Should left-handed children be taught to write with the 
right hand from the first grade on? 

7. Nature and sources of good supplementary material in 
history and geography, such as maps, stories, readers, 
pictures, etc. Assistance in obtaining them 

8. The difference between silent and oral reading. How to 
direct silent reading work and test the results 

9. How to break up bad reading habits 

10. Shall I correct errors in the reproduction of stories when 
made, or wait until the pupil has finished? 

11. Shall I deduct from the grade in composition for bad spell- 
ing? In other written work? 


Problems Concerning the Course of Study, Subject Matter, Text- 
books: 


1. Just what constitutes a good textbook? Standards for 
judging content and reliability? Adaptability to grade? 
Standards for judging mechanical make-up, particularly 
of primary readers? 

2. What is the best way to talk to boys on the hygiene of sex? 

3. How much time should be given to current events? Should 
they be treated separately or in connection with history 
and geography? 

4. A suitable list of materials for raising a low cultural level 
or background on the part of a group of seventh-grade 
boys 

5. Statements of minimum requirements for various grades 
and groups 

6. Will the supervisor approve my selections from the course 
of study? Time does not permit carrying it out in full. 
Am I selecting wisely? 

7. Is it safe to allow a debate on the local election, city man- 
ager, as proposed, to supplant the traditional mayor- 
council form of government? 

8. A group of overage boys in the seventh grade, taking voca- 
tional work for the most part, comes to me during one 
period of forty minutes each week, for instruction in 
geography. What shall I give them which will be most 
worth while under the circumstances? 


THE FIELD OF SUPERVISION 7 


Problems Relating to Individual Differences, Testing, etc.: 


1. How long should we expect concentration from different 
types of children at different mental levels? 

2. Assistance in adjusting assignments when the grade has 
been divided into three groups 

3. How to give judicious and helpful treatment to children 
who have been unaccustomed to restraint at home 

4. A great variety of questions were asked regarding the 
bright pupil, the dull pupil, extra assignments, control 
of behavior, special and irregular promotions, ete. 

5. Are standard tests sufficient or should there be more or less 
regular testing of the traditional sort with questions 
adapted to the class? 

6. Assistance in carrying through a program of testing, and 
help with diagnosis to be followed by remedial work 

7. What shall I do with classes in which many of the boys 
must work after school and during the evenings, with no 
time for home work, and in which other pupils are ex- 
pected by parents to bring work home? 

8. What can be done to develop the special talents, and, at the 
same time, safeguard the general education of a boy who 
has to work unceasingly to keep up to his grade, but 
who, to all appearances, is a genius in the study of 
electricity and its applications? 


Miscellaneous Problems: 


1. How far is a teacher expected to go in “lobbying” or de- 
veloping public opinion favorable to a local issue of 
school bonds? 

2. What is gained by keeping pupils after school in order to 
help them with their work or for purposes of discipline? 

3. What is the opinion of the supervisor in regard to the 
rating of supervisors and toward the expression of cons 
sidered opinion on supervision by teachers? 

4. How should a teacher go about creating a vital home- 
interest for the school and its activities? 

5. Will the supervisor please analyze desirable qualities which 
are lacking in my teaching instead of giving vague gen- 
eralizations about teaching efficiency as a whole? 

6. A brief discussion of the psychological processes underlying 
certain teaching processes 


8 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


7. Aid in convincing certain pupils that they should prepare 
for the vocational course rather than the classical 
8. Will the supervisor please teach a demonstration lesson? 
(A great variety of specific requests were listed here) 
9. Principles by which the daily program may be arranged so 
as to cause the least fatigue 
10. How to grade the pupils in the “C” group when grades are 
not lumped for all three groups? 
11. Many young teachers asked questions about mechanical 
details in the management of the room 


What do superintendents expect of supervision? The 
foregoing lists of problems represent the teacher’s view of 
supervision. This view is obviously, and perhaps neces- 
sarily, limited to problems more or less directly connected 
with teaching in the classroom. Are there other phases of 
supervision which the teacher may not see or feel but which 
are problems to the superintendent? 

Let us turn from those receiving supervision to those 
directing it. Many excellent bulletins and circulars have 
been issued lately by the more progressive city systems and 
much can be gleaned from them. 

A statement issued to the teachers of Denver, Colorado, 
defines the chief functions of supervision as follows: °® 


1. Organization of the teaching staff for the development of 
curricula 

2. Organization of the teaching staff for professional study 

along general lines 

. Demonstration teaching 

. Visitation 

. Conferences 

. Use of standard tests and measurements 

. Supervision of administration 


Obviously, this tends toward definition of the field in 
terms of major functions. The specific problems listed by 
teachers can be related to this lst by classifying them 


“TO OP 





5 Jesse H. Newlon, Denver Circular, No. 38, Series No. 1, 1921-22. 


THE FIELD OF SUPERVISION 9 


under the appropriate headings. The list itself could be 
improved slightly by classifying demonstration teaching, 
visitation, and conference, which are devices and not major 
functions, under a larger heading, for instance, ‘‘The Im- 
provement of Classroom Technique.’’ 

In a recent article Superintendent EF. M. Hunter of Oak- 
land, California, stated that in his opinion the highest and 
most professional aim of expert supervision is to minister 
to the three most vital needs in the progress of the teacher: ° 


1. Skillful technique of teaching 

2. Inspiration to professional growth 

3. A creative participation in the curricular development of the 
school system 


Another very valuable delimitation of the field is to be 
found in the Detroit statement of policy concerning super- 
vision, which says: 7 


The specific functions of the supervisors are three: research, 
training, and field work. 


L. Research. In general the program will be as follows: 


(a) The discovery of existing instructional shortcomings and 
defects (Possible items for improvements) 

(vb) The search for suggestions for improved methods in the 
work of instructional agents in our own or other 
systems 

(c) The formulation of working plans for improvement 

(d) The trial of the plan under experimental conditions, 
with selection of the successful solution on the basis of 
measured results and the formulation of tentative 
objectives and standards of attainment 

(e) The formulation of specific plans for putting the new 


6 ‘“Supervision and the Classroom Teacher,’’ an editorial in the 
Journal of the National Education Association, Vol. 14, March, 1925, 
p. 99. 

7Charles L. Spain, ‘‘A Statement of the Policy Concerning the 
Supervision of Instruction,’’ Detroit Journal of Education, May, 
1923. 


10 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


method into operation, and of standards, tests, etc., 
for measuring its effects 

(f) Presentation of plans to proper administrative officers 
for their criticisms, suggestions, or approval 

(g) Upon adoption of plans, the determination of objectives 
and standards of attainment based upon results se- 
cured under actual working conditions 


2. Training. The means of training are: 


(a) Conferences with teachers, principals, district principals 
and their administrative superiors 

(b) Visits to schools for demonstrations, instruction, diag- 
nosis, assistance, ete. 

(c) Meetings with principals, teachers, district principals, 
for demonstration lessons, instruction, discussion, 
ete. 

(d) Special bulletins of instruction, type lessons, exhibi- 
tions, reference readings or other especially prepared 
readings 

(e) Courses in Teachers College, regular, evening, or sum- 
mer 


3. Field Work. 


(a) Surveys of conditions 
(b) Visits on schedule and on call 


Although there might be some difference of opinion in 
regard to the wording of the above points, the whole state- 
ment is highly commendable and very valuable. It reduces 
the major objectives to a small number and classifies 
logically the devices and subsidiary activities under these 
few main headings, 

We shall cite one more illustration, this time from the 
rural field and from another section of the country. In 
promulgating the program of instructional supervision for 
his state, J. M. Foote, supervisor of rural elementary 
schools in Louisiana, lists the functions of supervision as: ° 


8 J. M. Foote, ‘‘A State Program of Instructional Supervision,’’ 
Journal of Rural Education, Vol. 1, April, 1922, pp. 337-41. Also in 
Proceedings of the National Education Association, 1922, p. 1149. 


THE FIELD OF SUPERVISION 11 


1. The maintenance of standards of instruction on a level with 
the best prevailing practice 

2. Such application and interpretation of the course of study 
as will insure to every pupil the opportunity of securing 
a well-balanced education 

3. Directing the work of teachers so as to carry out the educa- 
tional policies adopted by the school board and superin- 
tendent 

4, Providing opportunities for the further eieoation and pro- 
fessional growth of teachers in service 


What do supervisors do? Perhaps one of the safest 
bases for a definition of supervision is to be found in an 
analysis of supervision in action. A comprehensive view of 
the field should be obtained by studying the activities of 
good supervisors selected from typical well-distributed 
localities. Fortunately, a number of such studies have 
been made and will be summarized in another volume of this 
series. One of these studies, however, may be summarized 
briefly here. The supervisory staff in Detroit was asked to 
keep a record of all their activities for a stated time. Only 
duties actually performed were to be listed. Activities 
that might have been performed or which one might have 
thought desirable but which were not undertaken were 
strictly barred from the compilation. The result was an 
immense list of specific items which may be classified very 
briefly in the following outline: ° 


Wuat Do Supervisors Do? 


1. Select Textbooks 
(a) Select textbooks 
(b) Determine standard of sierra 
(c) Prepare materials on the use of textbooks 
(d) Appraise textbook already in use 





9A. S. Barr, ‘‘An Analysis of the Activities of Special Super- 
visors, a Study of the Detroit Supervisory Organization,’’ Bureau 
of Educational Research, University of Wisconsin, 1926. 


12 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


2. Study Supplies, Equipment, and Buildings 

(a) Prepare descriptive lists of instructional supples 

(6) Assist in the development of standards of distribu- 
tion 

(c) Prepare directions for the use of supplies 

(d) Prepare specifications for classroom equipment 

(e) Assist in making building plans 

(f) Study the instructional effectiveness of supplies, 
equipment, and buildings 


3. Assist in the Appraisal, Selection, Appointment, Assign- 
ment, and Transfer of Teachers 
(a) Recommend teachers for appointment 
(0) Rate teachers 
(c) Advise with administrative officials upon the transfer 
and assignment of teachers 
(d) Assist in personal problems 


4. Community Activities and Contacts with Outside Agencies 
(a) Belong to clubs, community organizations, ete. 
(b) Attend social and civic meetings in the community 
(c) Address various community groups 
(d) Participate in civic affairs 
(e) Answer requests from the community. for the use of 
schools, for assistance, cooperation, ete. 


5. Field Work 


(a) Visit schools 
(b) Answer calls for assistance 


6. Training Activities 

(a) Hold teachers’ meetings 

(6) Plan for demonstration teaching 

(c) Direct observation 

(d) Provide for directed teaching 

(e) Organize institutes 

(f) Prepare bibliographies 

(g) Hold conferences 

(h) Enlist interest of teachers in correspondence courses, 
extension courses, summer classes, late afternoon, 
evening, and Saturday classes 

(7) Arrange for and advertise public lectures and con- 
certs 


10. 


ne 


12. 


13. 


THE FIELD OF SUPERVISION 13 


(j) Develop educational exhibits 
(k) Provide for social contacts 
(1) Promote professional organizations and school clubs 


. Surveys, Reports, Records, and Schedules 


(a) Conduct surveys of the instructional conditions in 
the several fields 

(6) Render reports upon instructional conditions 

(c) Make special reports 

(d) Keep miscellaneous temporary records 


. Prepare Various Kinds of Instructional Materials 


(a) Prepare notices, announcements, ete. 

(b) Prepare discussions of special instructional problems 

(c) Develop courses of study 

(d@) Carry forward city-wide projects—field day, Lin- 
coln’s birthday, anti-fly campaign, ete. 


. Research 


(a) Construct and standardize tests 
(b) Study instructional problems experimentally 


Professional Activities 


(a) Hold membership in teachers’ association 
(b) Attend educational meetings 

(c) Serve on educational committees 

(d) Write educational articles for publication 
(e) Address professional gatherings 


Publicity 
(a) Prepare news articles 
(b) Prepare exhibits 
(c) Sell the school system to the general public 


Reports upon Educational Progress 


(a) Reports of progress in other cities 
(6) Review of recent educational literature 
(c) Reports of progress in university centers 


General Administration 
(a) Sell instructional materials to administrative officials 
(b) Carry through designated administrative projects 
(c) Organize the instructional side of the school system 


14 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


It may be argued that some of the above duties are 
administrative rather than supervisory. It is difficult te 
draw the line and some difference of opinion exists among 
the leaders in the field. The opposing views regarding the 
relationship between administration and care are 
presented in Chapter IT of this volume. 

How is supervision defined by educational theorists? 
Very often a man not too intimately connected with an 
activity can make a contribution to that activity either 
because of his unprejudiced view or because he may have 
a greater breadth of view. How have the general writers 
discussed supervision? What have they to add to the lists 
of activities outlined in the preceding views? ‘These men, 
of course, are not pure theorists. Many have had direct 
experience in the field or have surveyed carefully the prac- 
tices of the field. 

Nutt proposed a definition of supervision, in eight 
points: ?° 


Supervision has to do with: 


1. Laying the basis for codperative teaching 

2. Selecting and organizing subject matter and courses of study. 

3. Teaching for the purpose of experimentation and demonstra- 

tion 

4, Directing systematic observation of expert and inexpert 
teaching performance 

. Directing teaching activities 

. Checking pupil progress 

. Measuring progress and efficiency of teachers 

. Measuring the efficiency of supervision 


oN oO 


Strayer and Engelhardt emphasized five points: ™ 


1. Maintaining a uniform and workable course of study 
2. The improvement of teaching 


10H. W. Nutt, The Supervision of Instruction (Houghton Mifflin 
Co., 1920), pp. 23-32. 

11G. W. Strayer and N. L. Engelhardt, The Classroom teacher 
(American Book Co., 1920), pp. 42-61. 


THE FIELD OF SUPERVISION 15 


3. Experimental work 
4. Improvement of teachers in service 
5. Rating of teachers 


In setting forth the supervisory activities of the building 
principal, Cubberley lists the following duties: +? 


1. Guide and improve instruction 

2. Improve teachers in service 

3. Build up team-work, esprit de corps, morale, etc. 

4. Interpret and carry out administrative policy of the superin- 
tendent 


A very interesting definition and outline of supervisory 
activity is presented by Maxwell. He and his students 
attempted to formulate the work of the supervisor in rela- 
tion to the other persons in the school system. The follow- 
ing outline represents the culmination of their work: ** 


I. Codperative work of administrator and supervisor 


A. Outline of general aims and plans 
1. Deciding on relative emphasis to be placed on 
different departments 
2. Codrdination of units in the system 
B. Course of study 
1. Formulation of general aims 
2. Approval of supervisor-teacher conference. 
C. Textbooks, supplies, equipment 
1. Approval of recommendations of supervisor and 
teacher 
D. Selection and placement of teachers 
1. According to special aptitudes 
2. Rating of teachers 
. Securing the best physical conditions 
. Promotion of community interests 
1. Parent-teachers’ associations 
2. Literary and musical societies 


ry 


12. P. Cubberley, The Principal and His School (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1923), pp. 41-44. 

130, R. Maxwell, ‘‘ Analysis of the Work of the Supervisor,’’ 
School and Society, Vol. 17, Jan. 6, 1923, p. 28. 


16 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


3. Educational and athletic contests 
4. Exhibits of the work of the schools 
G. Securing professional recognition for teachers 


IT. Cooperative work of supervisor and teacher 


A. Course of study 
1. Formulation of course of study for approval by 
administrator 
B. Textbooks, supplies, equipment 
1. Determine needs 
2. Make recommendations 
C. Grading and placing of pupils 
1. Normal children 
2. Sub- and supernormal children 
D. Carry into effect the program for community interests 
outlined by administrator and supervisor 
K. Raising prestige of teacher in community 


III. Work of supervisor in relation to teacher 


A. Formulation of general method of supervision 
1. Self-analysis of work of supervision 
2. Conferences 
(a) Before-visits to discuss plans and aims 
(b) After-visits to discuss work done 
B. Evaluation of work of pupils and teacher 
1. Observation 
2. Standard tests 
3. Reaction of pupils to school and society 
(a) Ability of pupils in self-government 
(b) Attitude toward public property 
(c) Attitude toward school work 
C. Improvement of teachers 
1. Development of professional spirit and efficiency 
(a) Teachers’ meetings; local, state, national 
(6) Demonstration teaching 
(1) By supervisor 
(2) By teachers 
(c) Development of professional code 
(d) Directing observations of expert teaching 
(e) Professional reading 
(f) Talks from outside talent 
2. Constructive criticism 
(a) Judicious commendation 


THE FIELD OF SUPERVISION 17 


(b) Suggesting improvements 
(1) Privately 
(2) In teachers’ meetings 


IV. Final report to administrator 


A working definition of supervision. It is obvious to 
the reader that there is a common list of essentials running 
through the foregoing discussions. Despite some difference 
of wording and some minor disagreements regarding the 
inclusion or exclusion of certain details,.the limits of the 
field are to be seen clearly. 

About four years ago on the basis of then existing data 
similar to the above, Burton proposed a brief definition 
which -has been used widely. This definition contained 
five points: (1) improvement of the teaching act; (2) 
improving teachers in service; (3) selecting and organizing 
subject matter; (4) testing and measuring; (5) rating 
teachers. This definition revised and supplemented in the 
light of recent discussions of supervision will be used as a 
basis for the discussion to follow. An effort has been made 
to select as divisions of the definition such major functions 
of supervision as will cover the field adequately, at the same 
time avoiding a lengthy and cumbersome statement. 
Strictly speaking, the entire field, as already pointed out, 
might be included under the first heading, ‘‘The Improve- 
ment of the Teaching Act,’’ since that is the immediate aim 
of supervision. On the other hand the final aim is teacher 
erowth. This aim needs to be broken into lesser aims for 
practical purposes. The following outline summarizes the 
chief divisions of the field: 


1. The Direct Improvement of Classroom Teaching 


(a) Classroom visitation 
(6) Individual and group conferences 





14 William H. Burton, Supervision and the Improvement of Leach- 
img (D. Appleton & Co., 1922), pp. 9-10. 


18 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


(c) Directed teaching 

(d) Demonstration teaching 

(e) Directed observation 

(f) Development of standards for self-improvement 


2. The General Improvement of Teachers in Service 


(a) Professional readings 
(6b) Bibliographies and reviews 
(c) Summer school, extension classes, ete. 
(d) Leave of absence 
(e) Teachers’ meetings, associations, and institutes 
(f) Written, printed, or mimeographed local bulletins, cir- 
culars, ete. 
(g) Intervisitation 
(h) Development and use of school exhibits of good work; 
museums, ete. 
(7) Social contacts 
(7) Merit systems 
(k) Participation in administration and supervision 
(1) Participation in experimental study of instructional 
problems 
(m) Self-analysis and eriticism by means of rating ecards. 
(n) Changing a teacher from grade to grade, or from build- 
ing to building 


3. The Selection and Organization of the Materials of Instruction 


(a) The setting-up of objectives, studies of subject matter 
and activities, experimental testing of materials, ete. 

(6) The making and constant revision of courses of study 

(c) Preparation of miscellaneous supplementary instruc- 
tionsl material 

(d) The selection of textbooks, setting up standards of dis- 
tribution 

(e) Expert assistance in the selection of supplies and equip- 
ment, the writing of specifications, setting up stand- 
ards of distribution 

(f) Testing the efficiency of the course of study, textbooks, 
and other instructional materials 

(g) Preparation of descriptive lists of instructional mate- 
rials, supplies, equipment, ete., with suggestions for 
their use and care 


THE FIELD OF SUPERVISION 19 


4. Research and the Experimental Study of the Problems of 
Teaching 


(a) The construction of tests 
(b) The development of record forms 
(c) The training of teachers in the use of tests 
(d) The use of both standardized and local unstandardized 
tests 
(1) For purposes of diagnosis 
(2) For purposes of classification 
(3) For determining progress and making compari- 
sons 
(4) For teaching purposes (remedial prescriptions) 
(5) For purposes of educational guidance 
(e) Curriculum research 
(f) Expert assistance in providing the physical conditions 
of learning 
(1) Buildings and building plans 
(2) Selection and standardization of instructional 
equipment 
(3) Selection and standardization of instructional 
supplies 
(g) The experimental study of teaching procedures 
(h) (Noted elsewhere. Research on the experimental study 
of instructional problems: in the organization of 
courses of study; in determining the efficiency of 
teaching) 


5. The Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Teaching 


(a) The development and use of rating ecards 

(b) Survey testing 

(c) The development and use of objective standards for 
evaluating teaching, items to observe, check lists, ete. 

(d) Study and report upon general instructional conditions 

(e) Study and ee upon specific instructional projects 


6. The Development ne Maintenance of eto rales or Esprit de 
Corps 


(a) Through expertness in professional service rendered. 
(Teachers will have confidence in and give allegiance 
to supervisors who are known to be experts) 

(b) Through a willing and unselfish expenditure of time 


20 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


and energy in meeting problems and in rendering 
service 

(c) Through administering supervision in a kindly, sym- 
pathetic, and cooperative, but none the less firm man- 
ner 

(qd) Through inviting codperation in the solution of the 
problems arising within the system 

(e) Through giving full credit for all contributions from the 
teaching’ staff 

(f) Through providing opportunity for the exercise of 
teacher initiative in experimental work 


7. The Performance of Professional and Semi-administrative 
Duties 


(a) (The activities listed under 2 above for the general im- 
provement of teachers are equally applicable to the 
supervisor, i.¢e., the supervisor should constantly im- 
prove through professional reading, attendance at 
summer schools, study during leave of absence, self- 
criticism, ete.) 

(b) The keeping up to date of such records as are necessary 
to effective supervision 

(c) The interpretation of administrative policy upon mat- 
ters of instruction to teachers, principals, some ad- 
ministrative officials, other supervisors, and _ the 
general public 

(d@) Expert advice to administrative officials charged with 
the selection, appointment, transfer, promotion, rat- 
ing, and dismissal of teachers 

(e) Developing the opinion of teachers and directing it in 
its effect upon the community. (Concerning school 
standards and aims, building campaigns, bond issues, 
salary increases, special programs, etc.) 

(f) Participation in the activities of civie bodies, clubs, ete., 
on behalf of administrative policy 

(g) Preparation of written articles on behalf of adminis- 
trative policy 


The foregoing statement outlines the field of supervision. 
A group of related problems immediately present them- 
selves. What is the relation of supervision to administra- 
tion? Which school officials should carry on the work of 


THE FIELD OF SUPERVISION 21 


supervision? What interrelationships exist, or should exist, 
among those persons charged with supervisory duties? 
The next chapter will present current thought upon these 
problems. 

It is obvious that supervision as defined above includes 
far more than classroom visitation and conference, The idea 
that supervision is limited to direct contacts with the teacher 
through visiting the classroom still pers‘sts in the minds 
of many. educationists. The writers stand for the idea 
that the chief function of supervision is to further the 
pupil’s learning and growth. Supervision is therefore co- 
extensive with the range of things physical and spiritual 
which are primarily concerned with bettering the condi- 
tions which surround learning. A direct attack may be 
made upon improving learning through the improvement 
of teaching. Visiting and conferring with teachers is 
fundamental here, but many other factors are involved: 
the selection of subject matter, of supplies and equipment, 
the scientific study of teaching problems, the development 
and maintenance of professional spirit and morale, ete. 

Criticisms of supervision. The writers are proceeding 
upon the assumption that supervision is an integral, neces- 
sary, and vital phase of an educational program. The rea- 
sons for this assumption are obvious and weighty. In the 
first place, it is an accepted principle of business adminis- 
tration that difficult and important undertakings be given 
careful and adequate supervision. Education is far too 
intricate and complex a human undertaking to be allowed 
to proceed without a unifying and codrdinating force of 
some kind. In the second place, we are still without any 
large percentage of highly trained, professionally minded 
teachers. Despite the fine progress being made in this 
- respect, the type of worker in education is still unquestion- 
ably in that stage of development which demands expert 
assistance, guidance, and stimulation. 


22 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Despite the fundamental assumption that supervision 
is necessary, it is granted that supervision must meet 
and answer the many criticisms presented. Although su- 
pervision in general is accepted, it 1s necessary for any 
particular program of supervision to vindicate itself, to 
present evidence showing professional and financial justifi- 
cation. This problem is discussed in some detail in Chap- 
ter XII, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


1. ArmENTROUT, W. D., “Supervision and Educational Aims,” 
Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 2, March, 1923, pp. 
272-81. 

2. BAxrer, N. R., “Some County Superintendents’ Duties,” 
School Board Journal, Vol. 69, July, 1924, pp. 60 ff. Hu- 
morous and serious listing of multiplicity of duties, admin- 
istrative, supervisory, and social. 

3. Barr, A. S., “Cooperative Supervision, a Study of the De- 
troit Supervisory Organization” (Bureau of Research, Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin, 1926). 

4, Burton, W. H., Supervision and the Improvement of 
Teaching (D. Appleton & Co., 1922), Chap. I. 

5. Chicago Principals’ Club, “Supervision, Report of the Edu- 
cation Committee,” Bulletin No. 1, 1923; Bulletin No. 2, 
1924, 

6. CorrmMan, L. D., “The Control of Educational Progress 

. through School Supervision,” Proceedings of the National 
Education Association, Vol. 55, 1917, pp. 187-94. One of 
the best brief summaries of the nature of supervision. A 
much-quoted discussion. 

7. Coutines, Ellsworth, “The Meaning and Function of Crea- 
tive Supervision,” Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 4, 
June, 1925, pp. 404-09. Really a plea for the use of 
Kalpatrick’s idea of project in supervision. 

8. CuBBERLEY, E. P., The Principal and His School (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1923), pp. 4-16, 41-44. 

9. Dunn, Fannie W., “The Distinction between Administra- 
tion and Supervision,” Educational Administration and Su- 
pervision, Vol. 6, March, 1920, pp. 159-65. 

, ‘Report of Committee on Distinction between Admin- 

istration and Supervision of Rural Schools,” Proceedings of 





aS 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


AWE 


18. 


iE 


20. 


21% 


ies 


THE FIELD OF SUPERVISION 23 


the National Education Association, Vol. 59, 1921, pp. 584. 
88. Good material. 

Dunn, Fannie W., “What Is Instructional Supervision?”, 
Proceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 
61, 1923, pp. 758-64. A valuable summary. 

Evurorr, BE. C., City School Supervision (World Book Co. 
1914). Based on New York City survey. Good discus- 
sion of supervision, pp. 11-13, 42-47, 51-72, 168-81. 

Foorr, J. M., “A State Programme of Instructional Super- 
vision,” Journal of Rural Education, Vol. 1, April, 1922, 
pp. 337-41. Also in Journal of the National Education 
Association, Vol. 11, April, 1922, p. 130. Also in Pro- 
ceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 60, 
1922, pp. 1149-54. 

Gray, W. S., “Method of Improving the Technique of Teach- 
ing,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, Dec., 1919, pp. 
263-75. Excellent. 

, “The Work of the Elementary School Principals,’ 
Elementary School Journal, Vol. 19, Sept., 1918, pp. 24-35. 
Good introduction to field of supervision. 

Houitoway, W. J., “What Are the Activities of the State 
Supervisors that Directly Influence the Results of In- 
struction?”, Proceedings of the National Education Asso- 
ciation, Vol. 61, 1923, pp. 764-65. Excellent set of succinct 
statements. 

Hupsparp, Evelyn B., “What Teachers Expect of Super- 
visors,” Detroit Journal of Education, May, 1923, pp. 
416-17. 

Hueues, C. L., “The Functions of the School Superintendent 
in Theory and Practice,” School Board Journal, Vol. 67, 
Oct., 1923, pp. 40-42. Excellent. 

Hucues, Hilda, “Lessons in Supervision of Rural Schools 
from the Indiana Experiment,” Proceedings of the National 
Education Association, Vol. 65, 1925, pp. 568-76. Excellent 
account, showing value of supervision. 

JOHNSON, F. W., “Supervision of Instruction,” School Re- 
view, Vol. 30, Dec., 1924, pp. 742-54. 

, Administration and Supervision of the High School 
(Ginn & Co., 1925), Chap. XVIII. 

MAppEen, Margaret, “Some Problems of Method in Super- 
vision,” Journal of Educational Method, Vol. I, Sept., 1921, 
Dito. 








24 


23. 


24. 


25. 


26. 


a2. 
28. 


29. 


30. 
31. 


32. 


33. 


34, 


3D. 


36. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Maxwett, C. R., “Analysis of the Work of the Supervisor,” 
School and Society, Vol. 17, Jan. 6, 1923, p. 28. Excellent 
brief outline. 

McMorry, F. M., Elementary School Standards (World 
Book Co., 1914), pp. 175-79. Brief statement of the na- 
ture of supervision. 

Mirick, G. A., “Administration and Supervision,” Hlemen- 
tary School Journal, Vol. 19, Dec., 1918, pp. 285-90. Good 
summary. 

Morrison, J. Cayce, “Methods of Improving Instruction Used 
by Helping Teachers and Supervising Principals in New 
Jersey,’ Hlementary School Journal, Vol. 20, Nov., 1919, 
pp. 208-16. Excellent outline of supervisory activity. 

, “Supervision from the Teacher’s Viewpoint,” Journal 
of Educational Method, Vol. 7, Dee., 1921, pp. 131-38. 
Outlines and defines supervisory activity. 

Newsury, Maud C., “The Office of Helping Teacher in New 
Jersey,” Educational Administration and Supervision, Vol. 
7, Feb., 1921, pp. 111-14. 

NEWLON, Jesse H., Denver Circular No. 38, Series No. 1, 
1921-22. 

, “Reorganizing City Supervision,” Journal of Hduca- 
tional Method, Vol. 2, June, 1923, pp. 404-11. Deals with 
field rather than with organization. 

Nort, H. W., The Supervision of Instruction (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1920), pp. 23-32, 193-97. 

Scorr, Zenas O., “Improvement of Teachers in Service,” Pro- 
ceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 59, 
1921, pp. 773-79. Good brief distinction between admin- 
istration and supervision. 

Scort, Charles E., Hducational Supervision (Bruce Publish- 
ing Co., 1924). Good material poorly organized. 

Simpson, I. Jewel, “What Functions of a State Supervisor 
of Rural Schools Are Most Worth While?”, Proceedings 
of the National Education Association, Vol. 62, 1924, pp. 
680-85. , 

Spain, C. L., “A Statement of Policy Concerning the Super- 
vision of Instruction,” Detroit Journal of Education, May, 
1923. 

StrRAYER, G. D. and ENGELHARDT, N. L., The Classroom 
Teacher (American Book Co., 1920), Chap. III. Excellent 
brief statement. 








THE FIELD OF SUPERVISION 25 


37. “Supervision and the Classroom Teacher,” editorial in the 
Journal of the National Education Association, Vol. 14, 
March, 1925, p. 99. 

38. TARBELL, R. W., “Job Analysis of the Principal as a Super- 
visor of Instruction,” School Board Journal, Vol. 70, 
March, 1925, p. 54. 

39. TrErrrRicK, R. B., “How to Secure More Effective Super- 
vision,” Proceedings of the National Education Association, 
Vol. 52, 1914, pp. 286-89. Brief outline of scope of 
supervision. 

40. Turisen, W. W., “A Ways and Means Programme of Super- 
vision,” School Board Journal, Vol. 69, Oct., 1924, pp. 
43-45. Good summary outline with concrete suggestions. 

41. WacGner, C. A., “The Arguments for and against Super- 
vision,” Proceedings of the National Education Association, 
Vol. 60, 1922, pp. 438-39. Very brief but good summary. 





42. , “Supervision of Instruction: Why?” School Board 
Journal, Vol. 66, February, 1925, pp. 35 ff. 
43, , “Why So Little Supervision of Instruction?” School 





Board Journal, Vol. 67, Sept., 1923, pp. 49 ff. 

44, Wuitney, F. P., “The Principal as Supervisor,” Education, 
Vol. 45, Sept., 1924, pp. 14-19. Good analysis. 

45. Wimnanp, C. M., “Supervision by Remote Control,” School 
Board Journal, Vol. 71, July, 1925, p. 36. Probably only 
article discussing supervision by radio. 

46. YAwsera, A. G., “Part of the County Superintendent in 
Rural School Supervision,” Proceedings of the National 
Education Association, Vol. 61, 1923, pp. 772-79. 


Note.—Supervision is developing so rapidly at present 
that no worker in the field can neglect the professional peri- 
odicals as sources of information and guidance. Nearly all 
magazines contain material upon supervision from time to 
time, but the following publications probably publish the 
bulk of it: Educational Administration and Supervision, 
Elementary School Journal, Journal of Educational 
Method, Journal of Educational Research, Journal of the 
‘National Education Association, Journal of Rural Educa- 
tion, School and Society, School Review, School Board 
Journal. 


26 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


The bibliographies in this volume contain practically all 
references of importance in these and other periodicals up 
to and including December, 1925. (The Journal of Rural 
Education was unfortunately not available to the writers 
while compiling this bibliography. Much excellent ma- 
terial, valuable to city as well as rural supervisors, appear- 
ing in the back numbers of this journal is not listed.) 


CHAPTER II 
THE ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION OF SUPERVISION 


‘Should the art supervisor plan her work independently, 
or should she codrdinate her work with the plans of the 
primary supervisor ?’’ 

‘“Who takes precedence in rank, supervisor or princi- 
pal?”’ 

‘“Who is responsible for instruction, supervisor or prin- 
cipal?’ 

**Ts it not the function of the general supervisor to make 
the broad general plan of supervision, and the duty of the 
special supervisors (art, music, etc.) to plan their work in 
terms of these objectives ?’’ 

‘*What would you recommend in ease of friction between 
a general supervisor and a building principal?’’ _ 

**In case of disagreement over plans for the work of the 
semester between the supervisor of the elementary grades 
and the supervisor of music, whose plans should have pref- 
erence ?’’ 

The organization of supervision a difficult problem. 
The above quotations are taken from the correspondence 
of the authors. They are typical of questions most fre- 
quently raised by those in the field. Obviously what is 
needed is an understandable statement of the duties and 
functions of supervisory and administrative officers clearly 
defining line and staff relationships. 

According to the most generally accepted terminology 
there are four types of supervisors. 

27 


28 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


1. The general supervisor (superintendent, supervisor of ele- 
mentary grades, supervisor of upper grades, etc.) 

2. The departmental or special supervisor (art, music, reading, 
arithmetic, ete.) 

3. The building principal 

4, The critic teacher 


It is no easy matter to give a statement of the functions 
for these groups, allocating their duties, and defining the 
interrelationships that should exist. The answers of educa- 
tional leaders to the questions involved indicate considerable 
_ difference of opinion. In the following discussion quota- 
tions have been used freely so that every shade of opinion 
might be fairly represented. The principles of organization 
offered at the close of the chapter are based upon an analy- 
sis of the various opinions quoted, and are to be regarded as 
tentative. 

No one seems to be particularly well satisfied with exist- 
ing conditions, Although teachers, principals, and super- 
visors alike agree that there must be organization, they do 
not agree as to the exact form that it should take. The 
lack of similarity and agreement in present practices in 
organization bear testimony to the diversity of opinion 
upon this point. It will be the purpose of this chapter to 
summarize briefly present practices and policies, and to 
offer recommendations for a better working organization 
of teachers, principals, and supervisors, to the end that 
instruction may be improved. 

How the problem arose. There were for many years 
no supervisors; Supervision, such as it was, was carried on 
by the superintendent of schools. The work of the ele- 
mentary-school principal was confined to teaching in the 
upper elementary grades, to solving problems of discipline, 
and to the doing of a certain amount of clerical work. The 
eurriculum consisted chiefly of reading, handwriting, and 
arithmetic. Beginning about 1870 a number of new sub- 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 29 


jects—manual training, home economics, music, drawing, 
and physical education—were introduced into the cur- 
riculum. By 1908 the list of special subjects had been 
extended to include music, drawing, penmanship, manual 
training, sewing, cooking, and physical education.t As 
neither the principal, the regular teacher, nor the superin- 
tendent were ordinarily prepared to give instruction in 
these subjects, the work was placed in the hands of special- 
ists. The new subjects came to be known as special sub- 
jects. In the beginning, as is yet the practice in many 
school systems, the special teacher became a sort of travel- 
ing teacher, more closely related to the central office than 
to the local school. As time passed, and the work grew, the 
functions of the traveling specialist divided: the teaching 
specialist became an integral part of the local school, re- 
sponsible to the principal, the traveling specialist remained 
as the special supervisor attached to the superintendent’s 
office. While these developments were under way, the func- 
tions of the building principal were also changing. His 
attention was directed, partly as an outgrowth of the de- 
velopment of scientific methods in education, first to prob- 
lems of administration, and later to problems of instruction. 
As a result, during the last decade, the average principal 
has come to feel that he should be responsible for every- 
thing that goes on within his building. ‘There is thus a 
direct conflict in the authority of staff and line officers.? 
In the meantime, the central supervision of special sub- 
jects has been extended to academic subjects, and it is at 
this point that we find ourselves to-day. 


1 Walter A. Jessup, ‘‘The Social Factors Affecting Special Super- 
vision in the Public Schools of the United States,’’ Teachers College 
Contributions to Education, No. 43, 1911. 

2Fred C. Ayer, ‘‘The Principal and the Special Supervisor,’’ 
Bulletin of the Department of Elementary School Principals, Vol. 4, 
No. 3, April, 1925, pp. 143-54. 


30 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


The discussion to follow. The problem of organization. 
will. be discussed in the pages to follow, from three points 
of view: (1) present policies: a statement covering the 
problem of organization based upon a study of current state- 
ments of policy governing the relations of teachers, super- 
visors, and principals; (2) present practices: a statement 
of the problem of organization as derived from a study of 
present practices; (3) a summarization of findings from 
various sources concerning the organization of supervision. 
The general purpose of the discussion will be to formulate 
principles of organization through which teachers, princi- 
pals, and supervisors may be brought to work more har- 
moniously and codperatively to the end that the quality of 
instruction may be improved. 


I. STATEMENTS oF Pouicy 


Oakland, California. Several years ago Superintendent 
Fred M. Hunter issued a bulletin containing a discussion 
of the field and organization of supervision as agreed upon 
by the administrative and supervisory staff. Two para- 
graphs are of interest here: * 


-1. Supervisors must distinguish between supervision and ad- 
ministration. Supervisors are not administrators. Any admin- 
istrative matters discovered needing attention should be reported 
to the principal. 

2. Serious variations from the authorized time allotment should 
be reported to the principal, and if necessary, in order to obtain 
adjustment, to the Chairman of the Program Committee. 


This statement was followed three years later by a more 
elaborate and detailed one, parts of which are quoted here- 
with: + 


3 Fred M. Hunter, Superintendent’s Bulletin, Oakland Public 
Schools, Oakland, California, Series No. 28, March 31, 1921. 
4 Thid., Vol. 4, Series No. 30, April 10, 1924. 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 31 


Supervision is, on the face of it, the work done by certain 
officers of the school other than regular classroom teachers, to 
influence, guide, and improve instruction. In its earlier evolu- 
tionary stage it was called and was inspection—a checking of the 
performance of a hired employee against specific directions and 
requirements by a representative of the employing authority. In 
a modern and progressive school it has developed to be a totally 
different procedure, far removed in its conception and purpose 
from the earlier idea of it. A teacher is no longer merely a hired 
employee doing the routine work of a drillmaster, but the state’s 
official representative—a friend and leader of its youth. The 
supervisor is no longer a time and performance checker, but a 
friend and leader of teachers—a teacher helper. His principal 
work is to distribute and make universal the best things that 
are done by teachers anywhere, to bring to bear on the problems 
of the teacher the foremost philosophy of method and educational 
processes, to inspire teachers to fine living and professional 
growth, to encourage them to be interested in and to participate 
in the creative function of curriculum making. 

Theoretically the function of supervision—teacher-helping—is 
vested in the superintendent as the final responsible professional 
authority in the school system. The people and their legally 
chosen representatives hold the chief executive of the schools 
responsible for organization and results. If the system of in- 
struction is good, he, as the representative of the schools, should 
be the official recipient of the credit. If it is poor, he should 
be blamed and held responsible—all provided, of course, he is 
given time, funds, and adequate authority with which to carry 
out his policies. 

Representing the head office of the school system in each school 
or unit or organization is a principal. Like the superintendent 
he is both an administrative and supervisory officer. He is ad- 
ministrator and executive-in-chief in his school, the direct repre- 
sentative of the superintendent, and the responsible officer of the 
school not only for the organization and operation of the school, 
but for its instructional system and results even in the most 
technical and specialized work. His supremacy of authority in 
his school should be recognized by all the officers of the school 
system, including the superintendent and the supervisors. To 
overstep this line of demarcation means to topple the pyramid 
of authority which is the framework of control for the entire 
system and wholly essential to good administration. The assump- 


32 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


tion of the authority of the principal in his school by another 
and supposedly higher officer is a sin against the fundamental 
principles of all school administration. It injures the work of 
the school and to the extent to which such authority is removed 
the responsibility for results is removed. The principal must 
have complete authority in his school and must be held respon- 
sible for the results of its work. 

The work of the superintendent in guiding and influencing in- 
struction can no longer be done in person in any large measure. 
The development of large and complex school systems in our 
cities and other units of political organization makes it physically 
impossible for a superintendent to do much personal supervision 
of instruction. In comparatively small school systems only is it 
possible for him to do this. The broadening of the curriculum 
and scope of activities make it technically impossible for the 
superintendent to give expert advice and guidance in all lines. 
The effective superintendent influences instruction by control 
and direction of general policies and through especially equipped 
and chosen officers of the schools, selected for assistance in the 
technique of instruction. To these the superintendent delegates 
authority to do what he finds it physically and technically im- 
possible to do himself. 

These are the special supervisors—teacher-helpers—with full 
power of the superintendent to supervise and help in instruction. 
In no sense are they administrative officers except when specially 
delegated to perform a specific administrative task by the super- 
intendent’s office. The line of administrative and executive au- 
thority within the school system extends directly from superin- 
tendent to principal. The supervisor has no authority normally 
to command or direct the principal. The supervisor is the special 
technical adviser of the principal just as he is of the superin- 
tendent. Within the school the supervisor’s services are at the 
disposal of the principal. He becomes the expert and technical 
delegate to the teachers of the school. A wise principal makes 
full use of these helpers. They are his intimate consultants and 
friends. The wise supervisor offers his services to the principal 
of the school in which he works and becomes his counselor and 
adviser. Outstanding conflicts of authority between supervisor 
and principal all come from a failure to recognize the necessity 
of the observance of this simple but fundamental relationship. 
When corrections should be made in administrative arrangements 
and policies of principals affecting the work of the special super- 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 33 


visor and which may be in violation of the policies of the schools, 
they must be made by the administrative order of the superin- 
tendent and not of the supervisor. 

The work of supervision is carried on by this triumvirate—the 
superintendent, the principal, and the supervisor. The superin- 
tendent possesses supreme administrative and supervisory powers 
under the people or their representatives. The principal is the 
direct representative of the superintendent as chief administrative 
and chief supervisory officer in his school. The supervisor is the 
specialized expert of the superintendent in a given technical 
field of the school system, or segment of it, and is the same for 
the principal within his school. Each one has a specific contri- 
bution to make to the work of instruction: the superintendent 
by control of general policies and by efficient organization and 
general and comparative knowledge of the practices of other 
school systems, and of educational progress; the principal by 
his personal contacts, natural leadership of his teachers and inti- 
mate knowledge of the best work and methods within his school, 
and also by his zeal for a knowledge of general educational 
progress; the supervisor by his special preparation and equip- 
ment, by his comparative knowledge of the work of other teachers 
and schools within his system, by specific study of the philosophy 
of his special subject. 


Points to note in the Oakland, California, plan. For 
purposes of reference and summary this somewhat lengthy 
quotation may be reduced to a series of numbered points: 


1. The supervisor is not an inspector but a constructive ad- 
viser—a teacher-helper. 

2. The mark of good supervision is the inspiration of teachers 
with a love of teaching and joy of achievement. 

3. The chief function of the supervisor is the improvement of 
instruction, demonstration teaching, and conference. 

4, The supervisor works directly with teachers, but “should 
endeavor to see the principal before leaving the build- 
ing and make clear any instruction that has been given 
in order that the principal may be in a position to rein- 
force the supervision given.” 

5. Supervisors are not administrators. “Any administrative 
matters discovered needing attention should be reported 
to the principal.” 


34 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


6. The principal is both an administrative and a supervisory 
officer. 

7. The principal is executive-in-chief, supreme in his school, 
and directly responsible to the superintendent of schools. 

8. The supervisor has no authority to command or direct the 
principal. 

9. The supervisor is the technical adviser of the principal just 
as he is of the superintendent. 

10. Cases of conflict in the instructional policy between prin- 
cipal and supervisor are to be settled by the superin- 
tendent, in whose hands rest the general instructional 
policy for the school system. 

11. Special supervisors are a necessary part of an effective 
organization. 

12. The supervisor comes from the office of the superintendent 
as the specialized expert in a given technical field of 
instruction. . 


Detroit, Michigan. The following paragraphs have 
been selected from a statement issued by Charles L. Spain 
Deputy Superintendent of Schools: ® 


A supervisor is a person who has been given general oversight 
over one or more related divisions of classroom activities through- 
out the system, or major division of the system. In general, the 
function of the supervisor is to do such creative, constructive 
thinking within his field as is essential to the vitality and progress 
of the school system as a whole. In other words, his duty is to 
be and to remain expert in his particular line. He should know 
more about the general conditions of instruction within his special 
field than anyone else in the system, and be more capable of 
solving problems peculiar to his field. The specific functions of 
the supervisors are three: research, training, and field work. 


[Here follow several paragraphs detailing these func- 
tions. This material has already been reproduced in Chap- 
ter I of this volume. | 


The plan for supervisory visits on call is based upon the 
5 Charles L. Spain, ‘‘A Statement of the Policy Concerning the 


Supervision of Instruction,’’ The Detroit Journal of Education, Vol. 
3, May, 1923, pp. 393-94. 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 35 


assumption: that the supervisors, with the assistance of teachers 
and principals will set up general and specific standards to be 
used by principals in judging the quality of the work done by 
teachers under their direction. In these activities of the prin- 
cipals, a distinction is made between teacher-direction and teacher- 
training. 

No principal is expected to have expert knowledge of the con- 
tent and teaching technique of the various subjects or to give 
expert assistance to teachers. This is the province of the special- 
ist. However, principals are expected to have such general knowl- 
edge of the technique of teaching, and of the content of the 
various subjects as to give general directions and assistance to 
teachers, to judge the quality of work done, and to direct teachers 
to sources of information, or to examples of good teaching within. 
the building, or within the district. 

Teachers’ meetings called by supervisors are voluntary and for 
the purpose of teacher-training and not administration. All 
announcements, plans, requests, and directions to teachers pass 
through the regular administrative channels and not directly from 
supervisors to teachers. The purpose of teachers’ meetings, 
called by supervisors, is to give definite aid on specific instruc- 
tional problems and to demonstrate methods of teaching. 

The plan of supervision here set forth recognizes a dis- 
tinction between administration and supervision. Supervisors 
are not administrative officers. After instructional plans and 
standards have been accepted by the proper administrative offi- 
cials, Supervisors have no direct administrative responsibility for 
them. When principals and their superiors, in their attempts to 
put such instructional plans into operation, find that they need 
additional assistance and training, they call for the services of 
the supervisor concerned. On the other hand, this system of 
supervision recognizes the fact that administrative officers are too 
busy to be charged with the intensive study necessary for the 
modification of existing instructional conditions. Such improve- 
ment of instruction is primarily the function of supervision. 


Points to note in the Detroit, Michigan, plan. Some of 
the points in this summary, as in the previous summary 
-eoncerning Oakland, are indicated only indirectly by the 
quoted material, but are more fully developed in the origi- 
nal discussion, which is too long to quote here. 


36 


133 
14. 


15. 
16. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


. Supervision is not inspection, but has for its purpose the 


improvement of instruction. 


. The chief functions of supervision are research, training, 


and inspection. 


. Supervisors are not administrative officers. 
. The principal is both an administrative and a supervisory 


official. 

The principal is supreme in his school and is directly 
responsible to the superintendent of schools. 

The supervisor has no authority to command or direct the 
principal. 

Cases of conflict in instructional policies between prin- 
cipals and supervisors are settled by the superintendent. 

Special supervisors are a necessary part of an effective 
Supervisory organization. 

The supervisor is an expert in his chosen field. 


. The supervisor is responsible for the training of both 


teachers and principals. 


. Special supervisors are not directly responsible for class- 


room visitation. 


. Special supervisors are charged with the responsibility of 


evaluating general instructional conditions within their 
specialized fields. 

Supervisory visits are made on eall. 

Supervisors furnish standards for judging and improving 
teaching. 

Teachers’ meetings are voluntary. 

The work of special supervisors is codrdinated through a 
supervisory council. 


Harris Teachers College, St. Louis. The following is an 
extract from an address made by Dr. J. Leslie Purdom 
before the Mid-West Conference on Supervision, May 9, 
ASAT ys 


If the teacher is to get the help that she should have from 
the subject supervisor, we must outline an organization which 
will make practically impossible rear-end, or head-on collisions. 
This organization should be based upon scientific facts, if pos- 


6 J. Leslie Purdom, ‘‘Supervisory Relationships From the Stand- 
point of the Teacher,’’ unpublished material. 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 37 


sible, but if scientific facts are not available, we should proceed 
to organize as best we can in accordance with a few funda- 
mental axioms that we can agree upon. Some of these axioms 
that we might accept are: 


1. Too many cooks spoil the broth. 

2. You cannot serve two masters. 

3. Responsibility must be definitely fixed. 

4. A person held responsible for a situation must have some 
authority to control the situation. 


The organization that I would suggest would make it impos- 
sible for a subject supervisor to undertake any administrative 
work or to grow into an administrative officer. 

I would suggest that subject supervisors be absolutely for- 
bidden : 


1. To rate a teacher 

2. To report to an administrative officer on the work of any 
teacher 

3. To discuss the work of a teacher with any one other than 
the teacher herself 

4. To carry instructions from administrative officers 

5. To say to a teacher that she must do anything 

6. To initiate a conversation with a teacher, unless to pass the 
time of day, or to ask if she can be of any assistance 

7. To vote in committee revising a course of study or to do 
anything whatever except play the part of a big sister 
to the little brothers and sisters needing her assistance 


Perhaps I can make my position a little clearer by telling you 
about the situation in the demonstration school of the Harris 
Teachers College. The demonstration school is a regular ele- 
mentary school of the city of St. Louis. The equipment of the 
building, the size of the classes, and the preparation of teachers 
are the same as in other schools in the city. The only real 
difference between this school and any other school in the city 
of St. Louis is the fact that the special subject supervisors go 
to other schools, while the members of the faculty of the Harris 
Teachers College assume responsibility for supervision in the 
demonstration school. 

Until recently some of the members of the faculty of the 
Harris Teachers College considered that they had authority to go 


38 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


into this demonstration school and direct the teachers to give 
more time to music, more time to arithmetic, to change their 
method of procedure, ete. Now the teachers in this demonstra- 
tion school know that if they have questions to ask as to what 
is to be accomplished, they must direct their questions to the 
principal of the demonstration school. They also know that no 
person will exercise any administrative authority in this demon- 
stration school except the principal. They know that the prin- 
cipal of the school is not an expert in all subjects, and that they 
are free to approach the members of the faculty at the Harris 
Teachers College as specialists and ask them for advice as to the 
best methods of accomplishing the desired results in music, pen- 
manship, history, English, ete., but they know very definitely that 
' no member of the Harris Teachers College faculty will ever take 
the initiative in going to a teacher of the demonstration school 
to direct the teacher in her work. They also have a definite 
promise from me that I will never ask a faculty member to rate 
or mark a teacher in the demonstration school, or to make a 
report on the work of any teacher in the demonstration school. 

We believe as Dr. Kilpatrick does that the pupil-teacher re- 
lation is the all-important thing, and our plan is to secure 
specialists as subject supervisors to help the teacher when she 
feels the need of help, but to hedge this teacher about with an 
organization which will absolutely prohibit interference by the 
subject supervisor when she can be helped most by being left 
alone. 


Points to note in Purdom’s paper 


1. Responsibility should be definitely fixed. 
2. The person held responsible for a situation must have some 
authority to control the situation. 

3. Supervisors are instructional officials and not administrative 
officials. 

. Rating is an administrative function. 

. Supervisors should work directly with teachers. 

. The supervisor should be as a big brother or sister working 
on a service basis. 


Elements of agreement and disagreement in the several 
plans. The three statements quoted above have many 
points in agreement and a few in disagreement. The points 
of agreement are: 


ao Ore 


bet 


Or eR & dO 


9. 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 39 


. The purpose of supervision is the improvement of instruc- 


tion,—not inspection. 


. Research must play an important role in supervision. 

. Teacher-training is an important function of supervision. 
. Special supervisors are not administrative officials. 

. The principal is both an administrative and a supervisory 


official. 


. The principal should be supreme in his school and directly 


responsible to the superintendent of schools or his repre- 
sentative. 


. That cases of conflict in instructional policies between prin- 


cipals and supervisors should be settled by the superin- 
tendent of schools. 


. Experts, or special supervisors are necessary in an effective 


supervisory organization. 

The work of the special supervisors should be codrdinated 
through some kind of a supervisory council responsible 
to the superintendent. 


Some further inferences may be drawn: 


A 


2 


Se) 


4, 


On 


6 


The training functions of special supervisors should apply 
to principals as well as teachers. 

Supervision should apply to the junior and senior high 
school as well as to the elementary school. 

Special supervisors in training principals should furnish 
the latter with the tools of supervision—standards, rating 
scales, educational tests, ete., by which they may evaluate 
the work of their teachers. 

All notices, announcements, and directions from special 
supervisors to the teachers should pass through the hands 
of the principal. 

Principals and not supervisors are responsible for the work 
of individual teachers. 

Supervision should be thoroughly democratic in spirit. 


There are a few points upon which there does not seem 
to be complete agreement : 


uy 


That supervisors should visit on call, that is, at the request 
of the teacher or principal. 


2. That classroom visitation is a minor part of the work of 


the special supervisor. 


40 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


3. That the survey function—teacher rating, testing for the 
purpose of evaluating, inspection, reports upon instruc- 
tional conditions—is an administrative function. 


Supervision without supervisors, Madison, Wisconsin. 
Superintendent T. W. Gosling in one of his earlier discus- 
sions approached the problem from a somewhat differ- 
ent angle than those reported above. In a discussion of 
supervision without a supervisor he says: ‘ 


Now if there is ever to be adequate supervision, the work must 
be done mainly by the principals. This statement applies to 
large schools as well as to small ones. Principals are or should 
be in intimate daily contact with the teaching process in their 
buildings. For this reason they are in a strategic position for 
rendering a maximum of supervisory assistance. It follows from 
this situation that the most effective method of securing adequate 
Supervision is to exalt the office of principal, to invest the prin- 
cipal with greater responsibility, and to expect in return a large 
measure of initiative, of leadership, and of helpfulness. 

The Madison (Wis.) plan of supervision without a special 
supervisor has aimed definitely to make the various principals 
the real supervisory officers of the schools. To this end the 
superintendent has devoted a large part of his time to conferences 
with the principals, both in their buildings and at his office. 
Fortunately, the school system of Madison is not so large as to 
require the superintendent to devote most of his time to admin- 
istration. He reserves a large part of both his time and his 
energy for supervision. 

Under the Madison plan the principals make frequent reports, 
usually by the week, upon the work which they have done in 
their schools. These reports indicate to the superintendent the 
problems which the principals have been studying and the solu- 
tions which they have offered. The teachers have shared in the 
work of supervision to the extent that they have made sugges- 
tions for remedial measures in reading and in arithmetic and for 
changes in texts. 


7T. W. Gosling, ‘‘Supervision Without a Supervisor,’’ Zhe Journal 
of Educational Method, Vol. 1, April, 1922, pp. 306-11. 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 41 


[There are omitted here quotations from the reports of 
these principals. | 


Many pages of material like the foregoing could be given to 
show the type of work which the principals and teachers are 
doing under the Madison plan of supervision. The sole purpose 
of giving these quotations is to show that when the principals 
and the teachers are required to make formal reports upon their 
work, valuable results can be secured even when a special super- 
visor is not at hand. The time doubtless will come, of course, 
when a special supervisor will need to be employed. When that 
time arrives the way will be prepared, because there will be 
clear understanding of function. The special supervisor will be 
a helper, bringing to principals and to teachers the results of 
her studies and investigations, making constructive criticisms, and 
giving stimulus in many directions. The principals, however, 
having come to a full realization of the importance of their 
duties, will continue to be the immediate supervisory forces in 
the system. The expense of special supervision is heavy. The 
results of special supervision are very limited unless there is 
active cooperation with the principals. 


Unit supervision versus subject supervision, Chicago, 
Illinois. As the writer of the article quoted above points 
out, the plan discussed is operative in a smaller school 
system. The same general theory is set forth as applicable 
to a very large system, as may be noted in a report from 
the Chicago Principals’ Club: ® 


The elementary-school principal was originally freed from the 
duties of teaching that he might become a leader of teachers in 
the educational policies of his school. The strongest part of 
leadership is in the personality of the individual, and the person- 
ality of the principal goes into his school through supervision. 
He is the logical person upon whom this duty falls. He under- 
stands the community in which his school is situated, and can 
lead in fitting the course of study to its needs better than any 
one else. He is the only person in the system who has a close 
and constant view of the work going on in his building. He 


8 Supervision Report by the Education Committee, Chicago Prin- 
cipals’ Club, Bulletin No. 2, 1924, pp. 24-27. 


42 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


knows the teachers well enough to offer the most constructive 
criticisms. He sees the work from all angles and can make 
comparisons and form judgments as to the relative values of 
different subjects and types of teaching. 

The elementary school does not exist to emphasize subject 
teaching and the specialist should there be avoided. The child 
is living his life at the present, and our problem is to subordinate 
the demands of the subject matter to the needs of the child, to 
utilize subject matter, not as an end in itself, but as one of many 
agencies of the school which contribute to the child’s development. 
Supervision by the principal will prevent the fault of dividing 
education into blocks of subjects taught by specialists. 

The whole institution of the school must be a unit and it is, 
therefore, necessary to subordinate all subjects to the curriculum 
as a whole. The special supervisor has not the proper perspec- 
tive to advance the unity of the school. His best work tends in 
the opposite direction—toward emphasis on his subject. Mr. 
Worth McClure, Assistant to the Superintendent of Schools in 
Seattle, writing for the Bulletin of the Department of Elementary 
Principals, of January, 1923, says: “The trouble with subject 
supervision is that the balance of emphasis amongst the various 
subjects is more apt to be determined by the personality and 
comparative ability of the supervisors than by the educational 
demands of the community or of the individual schools.” 

Peterson, director of research in Flint, Michigan, after carry- 
ing on for some time educational experiments with subject super- 
vision has returned to unit supervision. In Madison, Wisconsin, 
as vacancies occurred in supervisors’ positions, ‘Superintendent 
Gosling did not fill them, but shifted the duties to the principals, 
who, he said, were in the strategic position for supervisory ser- 
vice. In a lecture before the recently appointed Chicago Edu- 
cational Commission, Mr. Spain of Detroit told how the subject 
supervisors in that city were becoming subordinate to the prin- 
cipal and were being placed under his direction. Other examples 
might be cited to show the present trend, but it is clear that the 
fact 1s generally recognized that the principal is the codrdinator 
of subjects in their relation to the best development of the child 
and, as such, he must have full supervisory powers. 

A program of supervision will succeed only when it has the 
enthusiastic support of the teachers, and it will have their sup- 
port if they have some share in its formation. 'Teacher-par- 
ticipation may be worked out successfully if the principal is the 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 43 


supervisor, for he may. appoint committees and arrange for their 
times of meeting, for intervisitation, for assemblies and for other 
means of getting teachers together and bringing about profitable 
discussions. He is on the ground at all times and may be called 
upon for an expression of opinion, for an idea or suggestion at 
any spare moment. He is able to have short and frequent group 
meetings and personal conferences just at the time when they 
are needed. Because of his close acquaintance with both teachers 
and pupils, he may take into consideration personalities and 
peculiarities and so may give suggestions which a subject super- 
visor would not, or which might not be well taken if given. 

The subject supervisor sees only one angle of the teacher’s 
work and is not able to evaluate fully her ability and her achieve- 
ments. The teacher who is responsibible to many supervisors 
has little peace of mind, but the one responsible to the principal 
who knows all her work, feels at ease in his presence. 

If the principal is to be the supervisor he must be held respon- 
sible for the efficient supervision of all subjects in his school. He 
welcomes this responsibility for he feels that supervision is the 
most important of his duties; that through it he may conserve the 
agencies of the school for the best interests of the children; that 
he may keep the human element in all activities of his school 
and may prevent teaching becoming mechanical routine by keep- 
ing the teachers inspired and full of initiative; and that he may 
keep himself alive professionally by this active connection with 
the problems of teaching. In the words of Superintendent Gos- 
ling of Madison, Wisconsin, “The most effective method of se- 
curing adequate supervision is to exalt the office of principal, 
to invest him with greater responsibility, and to exact in return 
a larger measure of initiative, of leadership, and of helpfulness.” 


This emphasis upon the duty and responsibility of the 
principal in regard to supervision is wholesome. Super- 
vision is the most important special service supported by 
education. The principal occupies the most strategic posi- 
tion for purposes of supervision. Some of the statements 
made above are of course subject to qualification. The 
‘principal can never be an expert supervisor of all the sub- 
jects taught in his school. He cannot be a specialist in 
many subjects, but he can perform an important service as 


44 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


a generalist. In its essentials the theory regarding the 
place of the principal in supervision, advanced above, is 
eminently sound and of great importance. 

Furthermore, principals should assume their full share 
of responsibility in this field, not only for the good of the 
service but also in their own interests. There is a distinct 
tendency in certain quarters to develop the principalship, 
not into a combined administrative and supervisory posi- 
tion, but into a high-class administrative position with 
supervision relegated to a minor role. The principal who 
follows this trend fails to realize the great future which, 
apparently, is at hand. When he fails to assume his right- 
ful place in supervision, and when he seems to relinquish his 
claim in this field, the special supervisors must assume these 
responsibilities. Such an outcome would be not only normal 
but entirely necessary. If the principal is to assume an im- 
portant role in the determination of educational policies he 
must concern himself with problems of supervision and the 
improvement of teaching. The chief difficulty at the pres- 
ent is that principals as a rule are not trained for super- 
vision, but this is a remediable defect. 

A second difficulty is that the recent practice of the prin- 
cipalship has not been toward supervision. In many places 
the principal is a minor and unimportant administrative 
official, degenerating in some instances into a kind of glori- 
fied office boy. This condition has resulted in part from 
tradition, in part from financial inability on the part of the 
system to supply adequate clerical help, and in part from 
unenlightened leadership in the administration. The point 
is, that if the principal is to be a supervisor, a real profes- 
sional leader of his teachers, he must be relieved of much of 
the cheap routine and clerical work now occupying his time. 
Obviously principals must demonstrate their ability as pro- 
fessional leaders in order to secure relief from the minor 
administrative duties. With many principals, supplying 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 45 


them with clerks would merely increase their leisure time. 
With the new principal, however, a high grade of profes- 
sional leadership will result when time and opportunity are 
given. 

Proper balance necessary between authority of princi- 
pal and expertness of supervisor. As has just been stated, 
the statements from Madison and Chicago place great em- 
phasis upon the position and authority of the principal and 
minimize somewhat the place and function of the super- 
visor. The statements from Oakland and Detroit, given 
earlier in the chapter, also exalt the principalship but in 
addition provide for and clearly recognize the function of 
special supervisors. Herein lies one of the most important 
problems of a modern supervisory organization. A better 
understanding will result, perhaps, if a clear idea of line 
and staff organization is comprehended. 

In the army, for instance, the line officer issues the orders. 
His authority is supreme. But he bases his orders on expert 
advice received from staff officers, air scouts, maintenance, 
supply and transport departments, ete. An officer who 
arbitrarily disregarded advice and information from the 
staff specialists would be heading for disaster in most in- 
stances. Because the line officer is, in the last analysis, 
responsible for results, he must issue the orders. But his 
action to be most intelligent must be sensitive to the advice 
obtainable from specialized experts. 

The school principal is both a line and a staff officer but 
the two functions are easily distinguished. As a line officer 
he is held responsible. He is in command. He must issue 
the orders. But he must base his orders and policies on 
the scientifically determined results of the specialist’s work. 

As outlined at the beginning of this chapter, the special 
teacher or supervisor arose early and gained somewhat in 
importance at the expense of the principal. The supervisor 
was either superior to the principal by tacit understanding, 


46 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


or by actual rating as an assistant superintendent. More 
recently the principal has come into his own, with the re- 
sultant emphasis on his supremacy in his school. In some 
quarters there has been a slight tendency, very recently, to 
demand that the principal be not only supreme but almost 
autonomous. This tendency must be opposed. <A principal 
should remain in command as long as his policies are in 
accord with modern educational theory and practice; in 
harmony with the policies of the superintendent and his 
staff. When he sets himself up in opposition to the opinion 
of a majority of experts, he must be ordered by his superi- 
ors to conform or suffer removal. At no time is the princi- 
pal subject to the orders of the supervisor who is a special- 
ist. His orders come from the superintendent. But spe- 
cialists have the right of appeal to the superintendent when 
the principal fails to codperate. The supervisor cannot 
question, let alone, usurp, the authority of the principal. 
The principal, on the other hand, cannot arbitrarily inter- 
fere with or thwart the plans of the superintendent made 
with the advice of the technical experts, the supervisors. 
The superintendent as the superior line officer must make 
the final decisions and issue orders accordingly. 

A more recent statement by Superintendent W. T. Gos- 
ling, which is not necessarily in conflict with his earlier one, 
coincides with the above views of the theorist: ® 


In cities where there are strained relations between the super- 
visors and the principals, the situation usually may be relieved 
by a clear definition of the functions of each group. Wherever 
there is doubt about the field of activity of any executive or 
wherever there is overlapping of authority, there are likely to 
be frequent occasions for misunderstanding and frequent con- 
flicts of will. 


9T, W. Gosling, ‘‘The Adjustment of the Duties of the Super- 
visor to Those of the Principal,’’ Elementary School Journal, Vol. 
26, September, 1925, pp. 18-21. 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION AT 


In a well-organized school system the principal is the direct 
representative of the superintendent in his school; he has full 
charge of the school and is responsible to the superintendent for 
his official conduct. The principal occupies a commanding posi- 
tion in the school system. He is the field officer directly respon- 
sible for the educational campaign in his district. 

Supervisors, on the other hand, are the special advisers of the 
superintendent in matters of policy relating to their departments. 
They are the experts to whom the superintendent must look for 
assistance in making decisions with regard to matters on which 
he needs technical and professional advice. 

The superintendent may assign supervisors to specific tasks 
in the various school buildings of the city. When a supervisor 
enters a school building, he comes within the jurisdiction of the 
principal of the school and should not undertake to make any 
radical changes or to introduce any policies without the knowl- 
edge and consent of the principal. It is only by an arrangement 
of this kind that a conflict of authority can be avoided. 

Just as the supervisor is the technical adviser of the super- 
intendent so should he be the technical adviser of the principal. 
Both superintendent and principal will do well to lean heavily 
on their technical advisers. As the superintendent may disregard 
the supervisor’s advice because he is convinced that there is a 
better way to proceed than the one suggested, so may the prin- 
cipal disregard the advice of the supervisor. It should be clearly 
understood, however, that when the principal fails to accept the 
advice of the supervisor on those matters in which the super- 
visor is acting on the instruction of the superintendent, the obli- 
gation rests on the principal to explain his procedure and to 
show that his way is the better. At this point the success cf 
the school system will depend upon the ability of the superin- 
tendent to make wise decisions based on good judgment, not on 
rule, for in the higher realms of administration decisions cannot 
be made on the basis of abstract rules. There must be present 
always a sense of justice, of discrimination, and of the inherent 
difficulties that arise in all human relationships. 

Some conerete examples will illustrate the working of the 
method of organization just defined. A supervisor of home 
economies who observes that a principal has assigned to a 
teacher in her department a larger number of pupils than can be 
eared for properly is not authorized to demand that the prin- 
cipal make a change; it is the duty of the supervisor, however, 


48 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


to bring the matter to the attention of the principal and seek 
an adjustment. If the principal does not act immediately, the 
supervisor will misconceive her function if she makes the matter 
an oceasion for report to the superintendent. Here the super- 
visor must assume that the principal is doing the best he can 
and that if he does not make the change she requests, his decision 
is based upon necessity, not on caprice. On the other hand, if a 
principal persistently fails to accept the advice of the super- 
visor, the supervisor’s usefulness in the school where that prin- 
cipal presides is at an end. At this point an adjustment by the 
superintendent becomes necessary. 

Principals need to recognize the fact that supervisors are on 
the staff of the superintendent for the specific purpose of foster- 
“ing the work of their departments. If the superintendent did 
not wish to have a particular kind of work fostered, he would 
endeavor to curtail the activities of the supervisor altogether. If 
the superintendent fails to make this situation clear to both 
principals. and supervisors, any friction that may result is 
chargeable to the superintendent himself. 

The assignment of teachers is a function of the superintendent. 
He may delegate this authority to a member of the staff; conse- 
quently it is possible in any particular school organization for 
supervisors of special subjects to assign, transfer, and promote 
teachers in their departments in their capacity as agents of the 
superintendent. The superintendent and those of his agents who 
work in the whole system have a broader knowledge of the total 
needs of the school system than the principal of a single building 
ean have. Out of this knowledge grows the right to assign, 
transfer, and promote. Principals who do not accept this situ- 
ation in the right spirit are chargeable with responsibility for 
friction if it occurs. 

Another concrete situation which frequently calls for adjust- 
ment relates to requisitions for supplies. Effective organization 
will place requisitioning power in the hands of the principal. 
This right arises from the responsibility of the principal for the 
proper maintenance of the work of his school. Here again, 
however, the principal will be wise to proceed at the suggestion of 
his technical advisers and with their help. When he fails to do 
this, he again assumes responsibility for any difficulties that may 
arise. Some principals who do not view with favor the work 
of certain departments would have it in their power to starve 
those departments were it not for the right of the supervisors 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 49 


to advise first with the principal and later with the superin- 
tendent, as the occasion demands. 

Good administration involves unity of executive functions. 
Two persons cannot drive the same team of horses at the same 
time and expect to drive well. A school is a unity in which the 
teachers have various functions to perform and in which they 
look for guidance and assistance to the supervisors who come 
from the superintendent’s office. This situation, however, does 
not involve independent entities within the school; all the units 
are parts of one body, of which the principal, representing the 
superintendent, is the head. Any attempt on the part of the 
Supervisor to impose his personality and his authority between 
the principal and the members of his department is destructive 
of good organization and of good administration. 

A summary of this discussion shows the ten following essen- 
tial items: | 


1. The principal is the responsible executive head of his 
school. 

2. The principal is the representative of the superintendent in 
the school to which he is assigned. 

3. Supervisors are the technical advisers of both superin- 
tendent and principals. 

4, Supervisors have no authority to regulate the administra- 
ticn in a particular building. 

5. Principals have no authority to thwart the general policies 
of the school administration. 

6. Supervisory functions must not be confused with admin- 
istrative functions. 

7. Supervisors assume administrative functions only on direct 
assignment from the superintendent. 

8. Each school is a unity with only one executive head respon- 
sible to the superintendent. 

9. Where rules are inadequate, good sense and a spirit of 
accommodation must supply the deficiency. 

10. Where all other means fail, the superintendent must be 
the arbiter; in these cases, the decisions should be based 
on the best interests of the children and of the schools, 
not on personal considerations. 


| Seattle, Washington. The following outlines from 
Seattle will close the discussion of policies governing the 


50 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


organization of supervision, and supply a transition to the 
following section dealing with the study of present practice 
in the organization of supervision. These summaries seem 
to have been based upon both a consideration of theory and 
an examination of practice. They are taken from outlines 
of talks given before the principals, supervisors, and teach- 
ers of Seattle by Worth McClure, assistant to the superin- 
tendent, Mr. Willard, assistant superintendent, and Miss 
George, of the supervisory staff. 

How the principal helps the supervisor. The first sum- 
mary is from Willard’s presentation : 


. The most helpful thing that a principal does can be defined 
only in general terms. It consists in creating for the supervisor 
a feeling of friendliness, in developing in teachers a spirit of 
receptive enthusiasm. Some specific forms of helpfulness which 
are appreciated by the supervisors are listed as follows: 


Administrative 


. By ealling the attention of teachers to notices of meetings. 

. By distributing outlines and helps to teachers as soon as 
received. 

3. By providing all needed supplies as promptly as possible. 


ho et 


Administrative and Supervisory 


4. By bringing to the attention of supervisors the good things 
teachers are doing, by encouraging teachers to send to 
the office specimens of excellent work, and by giving 
some kind of recognition to class work of special merit. 

5. By informing supervisors of special programs, reports on 
projects, ete. 

6. By informing the supervisor of experiments or special 
types of work in some field which teachers may desire to 
undertake so that the office may codperate. 

7. By keeping the office informed at all times of teachers who 
need help. 

8. By speaking frankly of the weakness and strength of 
teachers so that the supervisor may the better help and 
commend. | 


16. 


Aue 


aR at 


alt} 


20. 


21. 


22. 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION D1 


. By arranging to talk over conditions with a supervisox 


after a visit in the building. 


. By discussing frankly the effect on the teachers of a 


supervisor’s visit, whether favorable or unfavorable. 


. By encouraging teachers to codperate through committees 


in planning for the use of special material. 


. By consulting with the supervisor before arranging for 


exchange of work among teachers. 


. By consulting the supervisor before making essential 


changes in outline of work or material for any class. 


. By seeking opportunities to make use of school exercises, 


and by maintaining school standards, on special occasions. 
Outside entertainers are not always good models for 
the children. 


. By bringing to the attention of the supervisor new and 


valuable books, magazine articles, and equinment. 

By helping to secure needed educational reading matter for 
the teachers; such as professional magazines, reports, 
ete. 

By maintaining a well-balanced sense of values, giving 
to each phase of school work the attention due it. 


Supervisory 


By knowing the work that the supervisor is trying to 
accomplish through the teacher and by understanding its 
presentation well enough to be able to give helpful ap- 
proval of the efforts of the teacher and judicious praise 
of results obtained. 

By talking over with teachers the suggestions made in a 
meeting, having reviewed them in building meetings, or 
following them up in some other way. 

By reporting to the supervisor difficulties that arise in 
carrying out outlines or of any misconceptions of ideas 
presented at a meeting. 

By helping the teacher to know the points that she needs 
to discuss with the supervisor and by encouraging her 
to make a list of the questions that she should talk over 
with the supervisor. 

By arranging conferences between the teacher and the 
supervisor so that questions concerning the work may 
be answered for both teacher and principal. 


52 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


23. By watching for and commending the application of ideas 
suggested in bulletins. 

24. By being familiar with the contents of new reference 
books and suggesting them as helps in meeting special 
needs or situations. 

25. By interpreting as generously and considerately as pos- 
sible any apparent failure of the supervisor to measure 
up fully to the needs in any situation and frankly asking 
for more help. 


How the administrative and the supervisory staffs help 
the principal. The other side of the picture is found in the 
outline of a talk made by Miss George of the supervisory 
staff : 


1. Visitation 

(a) More frequent visits. The inspiration and help which 
they give makes that important. 

(b) Frank discussion of work by supervisors with teachers, 
in general desirable. 

(c) General survey of condition of building with principal, 
with suggestions as to where he ean help effectively. 

(d) No suggestions to teachers regarding exchange of work 
without first having consulted principal. 


2. Meetings 
(a) Not too many meetings. 
(b) Fewer Saturday meetings per teacher. 
(c) Meetings after school not longer than one hour. 
[Meetings are very helpful to teachers. They consider them 
a good course in education, but too crowded to be assimilated. | 


3. Outlines 


(a) Fewer outlines. Give us opportunity to “chew and 
digest” some of the many fine things sent out by 
supervisors, or found in magazine articles and books. 

(b) Time should be left for educational studies not di- 
rectly professional. We need intellectual breadth as 
well as height. 

(c) No tests of any character after the second week in May. 
Material for special days has been appreciated. 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 53 


4. General 

(a) Notices, questionnaires, and requests sent out in time to 
enable teachers and principals to give deliberate 
thought to rephes. 

(b) Duplicate blanks and questionnaires for files in prin- 
cipal’s office. 

(c) More remedial devices. 

(d) More standard tests available upon request. 

(e) Leave us more time to think. 


5. Relationship 


(a) Is most cordial and cooperative. 
(b) A finer administrative and advisory group cannot be 
found. 


The recommendations of the principal regarding super- 
visory helpfulness to teachers. Still a third angle is found 
in the following summary of recommendations from the 
principals concerning supervisory assistance given to 
teachers. The outline is taken from a talk by Worth 
McClure: 


1. Visitation 

(a) A schedule of visits. 

(6) Confer with principal before visiting rooms. 

(c) Give first and major attention to new or “problem” 
teachers; less time to those who are satisfactory. 

(d) First visit to be largely demonstrational. 

(e) Give principal a written memorandum of suggestions 
made to teachers where follow-up is desired. Sug- 
gestions not to be through principal. 

(f) Principal to be held responsible for thorough “follow- 
up” of suggestions. 

(g) Teacher to prepare memorandum of points not clear. 

(h) Principal to make occasional survey of rooms with 
supervisor to get his point of view. 


2. Meetings and Outlines 


(a) Fewer of both. 

(6) Make certain of arrival and delivery to buildings of 
new books before announcing their availability to 
teachers. (Mentioned twice.) 


54 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


(c) The supervisor should summarize printed outlines, ex- 
plaining special points, instead of reading outline 
where meaning is clear. 

(d) Work displayed should be work of average teacher and 
average pupil, rather than of expert. Display of 
exceptional work sometimes discouraging. 


3. Relationships 


(a) In Seattle the principals are well satisfied with the 
point of view of the central staff. 
(b) “Supervision is in excellent shape.” The  super- 
visors are working in the interests of the individual 
teachers. 


Summary 


(a) The spirit of the reports is a reflection of the helpful 
attitude of supervisors in Seattle. 

(b) Prineipals are ready to learn from the central staff and 
to accept responsibility in advancing central super- 
visory aims by “follow-up” in the building. 

(c) A timely problem is “How ean the services of the prin- 
cipal be used in furthering the effectiveness of cen- 
tral supervision in Seattle?” 


An effective supervisory organization must utilize the 
contributions of teachers, supervisors, and principals, 
alike. Whatever the scheme of organization followed, it 
should include the teacher, the principal, and the super- 
visor. Each has a peculiar contribution to make, the teacher 
as a teacher, the principal as a generalist, the supervisor as 
a specialist. While it is entirely possible to operate a school 
system without teachers, without principals, or without su- 
pervisors, it is not to the best interests of the child, for 
whom the school system exists. In the smaller school sys- 
tems the principal may become a teacher during a part of 
his time, and the head teacher may become a specialist, but 
the three functions must not be lost in an effective super- 
visory organization. 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION at) 


II. SraristicAL STUDIES OF PRESENT PRACTICE IN THE 
ORGANIZATION OF SUPERVISION 


Now that statements of supervisory theory and policy 
have been presented, actual practice in supervisory organ- 
ization may be studied, as an additional source of ideas 
about the ultimate organization of supervision. Some of 
the questions discussed are: 


. What is the purpose of supervision? 

What percentage of cities employ special supervisors? 

To whom are supervisors responsible? 

. What restrictions are placed upon supervisors? 

What is the administrative relation of the special super- 
visor to the building principal? 

Who is responsible for the course of study? 

. Who is responsible for the methods of teaching? 

. From whom do teachers receive orders or directions? 

. To whom do teachers look for assistance? 

. Are teachers rated and by whom? 

. Is attendance at teachers’ meetings voluntary or compul- 


sory ? 

What is the purpose of supervision? Harris*° found, 
in his study of the organization of supervision in cities of 
25,000 population or more, based upon returns from 160 
cities, that the chief purpose of supervision was ‘‘assist- 
ance,’’ or the improvement of teaching. The aspects of serv- 
- ice and of the training of teachers were placed first. The 
second most frequently named purpose was ‘‘assistance and 
evaluation,’’ being a combination of improvement and in- 
spection. The third was ‘‘guidance and codrdination,”’ 
obviously an aspect of assistance. The last ‘‘evaluation”’ 
may be interpreted as inspection. The findings are some- 
what in accord with the general policies already given in 
- the earlier part of this chapter. 


cl ad Se 


HP SOMOND 


ft pet 


10R,. W. Harris, ‘‘The Organization of Supervision,’’ Master’s 
Thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1925. 


56 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


A CoMPARISON OF STATEMENTS OF THE PURPOSE OF SUPERVISION AS 
CARRIED ON IN CiTIES OF 25,000 PopULATION AND OVER IN THE 
UNITED STATES 





25,000—|} 50,000—| 100,C00— 500,000 Per 








200,000- 

Size of Cities 50,000 | 100,000 | 200,000 | 500,000 | over | T°t@lSicent 
INO;AUSWED sacar cle cas 18 6 4 1 NG Be 29 18 
ABSIStAaNCe ws 4c. ania aisle SH 22 10 3 i 79 50 
va Ua tLOD seer iene ete 5 3 adie Tee ee 8 5 
Assistance and evalua- 

tYON ee he tere n rede 6 13 6 6 cours 31 20 
Guidance and coérdina- 

tLON Met ee eee Pe 3 3 1 ane 9 6 
Help get work done.... 1 t ‘ 1 1 


The percentage of cities employing subject supervisors. 
Harris *! found that of those reporting, all but four cities 
of 25,000 to 50,000 population have supervisors, the num- 
ber ranging from one to eleven with the median number 
4.5. The number of supervisors in cities of 50,000 to 
100,000 ranges from one to ten with a median of five, the 
number in eities of 100,000 to 200,000 ranges from two to 
twenty-four, with a median of 8.9; the number in cities of 
200,000 to 500,000 ranges from four to thirty, with a 
median of ten; and the number in cities of 500,000 and 
over ranges from five to sixty-three. 

Ayer’s** study of the same problem indicated that 86 per 
cent of cities of 100,000 population and over employed 
special supervisors. His study also indicated a decided 
increase in the number of supervisors since 1908. Prac- 
tice seems to support the notion that expert assistance is 
necessary to an effective supervisory organization. | 

To whom are supervisors responsible? Harris’ re- 
turns indicate that the supervisor is in most cases directly 


11 [bid. 

12 Fred C. Ayer, ‘‘The Rise of Special Supervision and Depart- 
mental Organization,’’ Studies in Administrative Research, Bulletin 
No. 2, Seattle Public Schools, 1925, Chap. I. 

13 R. W. Harris, loc. cit. 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION ov 


responsible to the superintendent, or, in the larger school 
system to one of his assistants. Ayer’s** study indicates 
practically the same conditions. A summary of his find- 
ings is given in the table below. 


SHOWING THE ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICIAL TO WHOM SUPERVISORS ARE 
RESPONSIBLE IN CiTIES OF 100,000 PopuLATION AND OVER 


NUMBER OF SUPERVISORS 





LS ! 


Group I 


Home | Manual _ |Physical 
Art | Eco- | Train- |Music Etre Educa- | Total re 
nomics| ing tion 
Superintendent..... ites 12 244 | 16 10 19 91 63.2 
Assistant superin- 
TONOCUL ate a ] 24 16.7 





Under what restrictions do supervisors work? The 
instructional plans of supervisors are usually approved by 
the superintendent before they are put into effect. The 
table below, taken from Harris’ study summarizes his find- 
mgs:° 


APPROVAL OF INSTRUCTIONAL PLANS OF SPECIAL SUPERVISORS 


25,000—| 50,000—} 100,000—| 200,000—|500,000, Total Per 


Size of Cities 50,000 | 100,000 | 200,000 | 500,000 | over Cent 
NOTED]. Uterus rie 16 8 2 3 1 30 19 
ADDIOVEU eet ae eis 40 27 19 5 4 95 60 
Not approved......... 9 5 2 0 1 ys 11 
Usually approved...... 1 0 1 0 2 a 
If change of policy..... 1 1 0 0 2 1 
In general way........ 3 6 1 3 13 8 





The interesting thing to note is the fact that seventeen 
supervisors should report that they are free from the au- 





14 Fred C. Ayer, loc. ctt. 
15 R. W. Harris, op. cit. 


58 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 
thority of the superintendent. Ayer?® found that super- 
visors were given a large amount of freedom in working 
out their plans and putting them into effect. 


GUIDANCE AND RESTRICTION OF SUPERVISORY OFFICERS BY SUPERIOR 
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS IN CriTIES oF 100,000 PopuLaATION 













AND OVER 
| NUMBER OF SUPERVISORS 
Group I 
P Rane Physical Roe 
Art manship Educa- Total Cent 
tion 
Large freedom..... 14 iat 61 46.2 
Cooperative control.| 7 10 3a | 20,0 
Restricted control...| 2 6 38 | 28.8 





CHOtAIS ane ta eee ; 132 |100.0 





What is the administrative relation of the special 
supervisor to the building principal? When the super- 
visor of music visits a local building, for example, what 
authority has she in her relations to teachers and principal? 
Does the supervisor act in the capacity of an assistant su- 
perintendent, an assistant principal, or as a regular 
teacher? Ayer?’ found that in four cases out of ten, the 
supervisor acted as an assistant superintendent, in about 
two out of ten as a teacher, and rather less than that num- 
ber of times as an assistant-principal. The returns from 
forty-four cities of over 100,000 population in the United 
States are given on page 59. 

Who is responsible for the course of study? Is the 
course of study a product of the codperative efforts of 
teachers, principals, and supervisors, or is it the work of 
some one group within the school system? In answer to 
the question, to what extent do teachers participate in the 


a 


16 Fred C, Ayer, op. ctt. 
17 Ibid. 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 59 


making of the course of study, Harris** found that the 
most frequent form of participation was through service 
on committee, conferences, and suggestions. 


ADMINISTRATIVE RELATION OF THE SPECIAL SUPERVISOR TO 
BUILDING PRINCIPAL 


NUMBER OF CASES 















































Home | Manual _ |Physical 
Art Eco- Train- Music ais Educa- Total abe. 
nomics ing tion 
As assistant super- 
behn svete Cet ehn Ae hee knN mane 5 10 10 5 11 46 | 38.7 
As assistant princi- 
rer) Phe Cant See aie aie 4 2 ff 2 1 19 16.0 
AIS CEBCHET s s02.d oo 8 5 8 6 2 2 3 26 21.8 
Codéperative....... 6 5 a 1 3 22 18.5 
Independent....... 1 1 4 ee 6 5.0 
PPOLAl sR re oe 20 23 29 20 12 15 119 |100.0 








Do all schools follow the same course of study? In one 
hundred and twenty-two cities, ‘‘yes’’; in six, ‘‘no’’; in 
eight, ‘‘approximately’’; in one, ‘‘in some grades’’; and 
fifteen use the course of study as a general guide. 

May the teacher follow her own course of study? Three 
schools reported that the teacher may follow her own course 
of study, one reported that the teacher may adapt the 
course of study to the local system, and two reported that 
the teacher may follow the course of study only in a gen- 
eral way. Two reported that if the requirements of the 
present course of study are fulfilled first, the teacher may 
follow her own course of study. Three mentioned the 
superiority of the teacher as a reason why the teacher 
should follow her own plans, and one mentioned freedom to 
follow her own course of study in certain subjects. Sixteen 
schools allow such freedom with the permission of the 
principal, supervisor, or superintendent. Nineteen wrote 


18 R. W. Harris, op. cit. 


60 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


of such privileges only within limits, while ninety-eight 
answered that the teacher could not follow her own course 
of study. Ayer’s?® study shows that in 55.9 per cent of 
the cases in cities over 100,000, the supervisor is responsible 
for the course of study. 


TABULATION OF REPLIES TO QUESTION: “‘May THE TEACHER 
FoLttow Herr Own Coors or Stupy?”’ 








, Fe 25,000—| 50,000- 100,000-| 200,000—|500,000, Per 
Bizeiot |Oihee 50,000 | 100,000 | 200,000 | 500,000 | over | 1° S|cent 
IN OFANS WET ele ieee a 1 8 5 
Ee ye) VR ee Aa 1 2 3 2 
NOU hoe ee ee ee ays oD 16 8 6 98 61 
Wathintlimitsere cere 8 8 1 1 1 19 12 
By permission......... 1 5 2 3 11 7 
Approval of supervisor. 1 ae 1 1 
Approval of superin- 
tendent. 2 4. seen tale 4 sc 4 2 
In some subjects....... 1 apse 1 1 
In a general way....... 1 1 2 1 
Depends on nature of 
suggestions......... 1 1 1 
After course is com- 
pleted. eye eee 1 1 2 1 
JFsuperiote. sic 2 1 wy tan || Geet eer | ere 3 2 
As to method and ap- 
DIOACD cients g ee eee 3 1 1 5 3 
Adapt to local system. . i 1 iL 


RESPONSIBILITY FOR COURSE OF STUDY IN SPECIAL SUBJECTS 


NUMBER OF CASES 








Responsibilit 
iM a Home | Manual Pen- | Physical 
Art Eco- Train- Music mansbip Educa- 
nomics ing tion 
Supervisor.........| 14 15 11 16 11 14 
Supervisor and as- 

SIStanis coe whiner: ae a 1 a 
Co6perative....... atid’ 15 4 3 7 
Superintendent or 

councilé...;-neiee VAD eS a ee 4 il 1 dees 

ILOtalrs.c ha err ra 24 26 30 21 16 28 145 /|100.0 








19 Fred C. Ayer, op. ctt. 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 61 


Who is responsible for methods of teaching? Ayer ”° 
found that supervisors in 67.4 per cent of all cases were 
personally responsible for the methods used and if added 
to the 6.2 per cent in which assistants were responsible, the 
number becomes 75 per cent of all cases. In about one 
ease out of four the assistant superintendent shares this 
responsibility. 


RESPONSIBILITY FOR METHODS IN SPECIAL SUBJECTS 








NUMBER OF CASES 


Responsibility 
Home | Manual en-_ | Physical Per 
Art Eco- Train- Music manship Educa- Total Gent 
nomics ing tion 
Supervisor.........| 14 16 18 LF 11 21 97 | 67.4 
Supervisor and as- 

BISLANUS Ss woke Su: 6 gaat seed Pinte 1 Z 9 6.2 
Coéperative....... 3 8 1 4 4 5 30} 24.3 
Superintendent or 

paalarehor let So a aisatho ence 1 1 Reet See 1 3 2au 


BL GUAR Ge accyo.08 a4 se oat 25 30 21 16 29 144 /|100.0 


From whom do teachers receive orders or directions? 
Harris’ 7+ investigation showed that there was considerable 
variation in the source of the directions to teachers. The 
principal, as we would expect, is the most frequent source 
of directions, with fifty-six schools so reporting, thirty-three 
schools say that directions are given by both principals and 
supervisors. In nineteen cases the directions are given by 
either the principal, the supervisor, or the superintendent. 
In eleven school systems the directions come from super- 
visors and superintendents, and in ten from the supervisor 
direct. The interesting thing about these findings is that 
there should be more than one source of directions for 


? 


20 Ibid. 
21 R, W. Harris, op. cit. 


62 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


teachers. The findings indicate that the practice varies as 
to the principal’s responsibility for instruction in his 
building. 


Source oF DirREcTIONS TO TEACHERS 


25,000-| 50,000—| 100,000—; 200,000—|500,000, Totals Per 














Pine OF aBee 50,000 | 100,000 | 200,000 | 500,000 | over Cent 
NoOmpaWweéer, .). waren 6 3 BG are 9 6 
Principalsier crite eee 23 9 14 5 D 56 34 
SUNGIVISOlS anaes 2 6 1 1 10 8 
Department head...... 1 1 nae 2 1 
Assistant superintend- 

CU ais his eee iL 1 1 
Superintendent through 

DIINGIDAlei ye ae ee 1 2 2 ret teks 2 a 4 
Superintendent and 

SUpCrVASOOe eee ee 6 3 2 Re: vee 11 7 
Superintendent and 

DINCIDS aca ctee 6 Abie 1 nee Re st 7 4 
Superintendent, super- 

visor, and principal.. 8 10 1 porns betes, 19 12 
Principal and supervis- 

OLS ters coy ee 13 12 4 4 Mont: 33 21 
Superintendent........ 3 1 Nes owe Stee 4 2 





To whom do teachers look for assistance? Harris’ * 
investigation showed that in sixty schools the teacher looked 
to the principal and to the supervisor for assistance; forty-_ 
four look to the principal, the supervisor, and the superin- 
tendent, thirteen to the principal; and thirteen more to the 
supervisor. The table on page 63 gives the findings in detail. 

Are teachers rated and by whom? Are teachers rated? 
As a general rule, the answer is ‘‘yes.’” By whom? In 
thirty-seven cases teachers are rated by the principal, the 
supervisor, and the superintendent; in twenty-seven sys- 
tems teachers are rated by the principal alone; in twenty- 
five by the principal and the supervisor; and in thirteen 
cases by the superintendent and the principal.”* 


23 Harris, ibid. 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 


63 


Tue ScuHoot OFFICIALS TO WHOM THE TrACHERS May Loox 


FoR ASSISTANCE 





Size of Cities 


INORIRIS WEI tier ie at: 
SUDELVAIROT deuts ule Sle yen 
Department head...... 
Principal and_ super- 


[ee ah EKG] oF Hdd wey hie’ aaa 
Superintendent and 
DMD CIAL owes sane e 
Superintendent and 
BUDCEVISON «cis est 
Superintendent, super- 
visor, principal...... 
Principal and general 
OHICOS i aint toe eae 
Head of department, 
principal, and super- 
Superior officer........ 
Principal, superintend- 
ent, adirectOD.. «1.40.0 +7 
Principal and director.. 








25,000- 


50,000 


bo 
He CO 


~J 


Cr 


22 








50,000—| 100,000— 
100,000 | 200,000 


14 





200,000—|500,000, Totals Per 


500,000 | over 


1 1 
1 Avi 
8 ae ters 
4 
1 1 
ae 


ScHooLt OrriciALs WHo Rats TEACHERS 








Cent 








Size of Cities 





IPrincipalarene ss cee ee 


Superintendent and ~ 


PHNGHSA yc stew ks © 
Superintendent, super- 
visor, and principal. . 
Superintendent or as- 
RISUATIG Meo e, oF bis as 
Superintendent and 
BUPEKVISON byze.c6:5 5, «0 bes 
UPELVIBOLS «elise. a's 
Supervisors and _ prin- 
: cipals eves cree tree es 
Self and principal...... 
Committees of three 
@ LOACDErB: vieks aes’ pin 





‘ 





25,000—| 50,000—| 100,000—| 200,000—}500,000, Totals Per 
50,000 | 100,000 | 200,000 | 500,000 over 


— | ——————— — . [ | [| | 


Noe 


2 

f ia 
2 1 
1 1 
f 


Cent 


_ What practice shows about the organization of super- 


vision. Prevailing practices in the organization of super- 


64 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


vision are summarized below in thirteen statements. Two 
notable discrepancies between theory and practice are ap- 
parent: (1) the principal is not supreme authority in his 
school; (2) supervision is not a codperative, democratic 
service. 


1. The purpose of supervision is to help the teacher, to give 
assistance, and to improve instruction. 

2. Expert assistants or subject supervisors are necessary in 
a well-organized plan for the improvement of instruc- 
tion. 

3. While supervisors are given great freedom, as a rule, they 
work individually in close cooperation with the super- 
intendent. 

4. In the majority of cases the supervisor acts as an assistant 

superintendent when visiting the local building. 

5. In over half the cases reporting, the supervisor is respon- 
sible for the course of study. 

6. As a rule, all schools follow the same course of study. 

7. The teacher, except by permission, must follow the same 
course of study. 

8. Where teachers cooperate in making the course of study, 
the most common method is through committees. 

9. Supervisors are responsible for the methods used. 

10. Although the principal is the person who issues directions 
to teachers most frequently, they may also receive them 
from the supervisors or the superintendent. 

11. Teachers look equally to principals and supervisors for 
assistance. 

12. Teachers are rated and usually by principals, supervisors, 
and superintendents. 

13. Attendance at teachers’ meetings, called by either the super- 
visor, the principal or the superintendent, is compulsory. 


Supervision in large and small cities. While most of 
the examples used in this chapter have been drawn from 
larger cities, and the statistics are for cities of 25,000 and 
over in population, the writers have kept in mind both large 
and small communities. The largest group of cities is that 
composed of cities under 25,000 in population. Although 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 65 


the personnel may change from city to city, the principles 
of organization, and the functioning thereof, remain the 
same. What, then, does the superintendent do when there 
are no supervisors? He may operate his school system with 
one of the triumvirate missing. A better plan is to select 
the best teacher in reading, for example, to act for a few 
hours each day as a special adviser. The school system 
cannot afford a full-time supervisor, but, at the same time 
cannot operate effectively without the help of an expert. 
When some teacher has been chosen as an expert, the func- 
tions and principles of organization discussed earlier in this 
chapter become operative. 

The traveling teacher. In a great many school systems 
there are specialists who travel from building to building 
and teach. For the most part they are independent of the 
regular school organization. Frequently, the teacher re- 
mains in the room while the specialist takes charge of the 
elass or of half the class. From the standpoint of adminis- 
tration the plan has not been entirely successful in its oper- 
ation. The weaknesses are: (1) instruction in the special 
subjects is set apart from the regular work of the school; 
(2) it limits the amount of personal contact between pupil 
and specialist; (8) the work frequently lacks continuity 
and organization; (4) it is inconvenient for the specialist 
to travel from building to building; (5) two teachers fre- 
quently spend the class period in the same room, thereby 
causing an unnecessary expenditure of funds. Two move- 
ments now under way promise to eliminate the traveling 
teacher. (1) In many cases regular classroom teachers 
have learned more about the so-called ‘‘special subject,’’ 
and have assumed responsibility for instruction in these 
subjects under the guidance of the principal and special 
supervisor. Music, art, penmanship, practical arts, and 
health have all found their proper places in the regular 
schedule under the direction of the classroom teacher. (2) 


66 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


In other eases, the school itself has been given an adminis- 
trative overhauling. The platoon school, for example, pro- 
vides specialists for each of the recognized special subjects. 
In general, the tendency has been to put the entire school 
under one management, and to provide both teachers and 
principals with such expert assistance as is necessary to 
effective classroom work. ; 

State and county supervision. Again, the present dis- 
cussion has had in mind supervision in state and county. 
There is probably no particular reason why state and 
county supervision should be largely inspectional in char- 
acter. There are now some splendid examples to the con- 
trary. The functions and principles of organization are 
the same as those found in any well-organized scheme for 
the improvement of instruction. Throughout the disecus- 
sion the writers have had in mind specific supervision of 
rural schools on the basis of service. 

Some general principles of organization. What prin- 
ciples of organization, then, should be followed in order to 
make supervision more effective? While there are many 
elements of discord, there is much agreement as to the 
characteristics of a good supervisory organization. 

The important points may be summarized as follows: 


= 


The superintendent of schools is, in the last analysis, re- 
sponsible for the general instructional policy of the 
school system. 

2. Instructional experts, special supervisors, or supervisors 

of the school subjects are necessary. 

3. The special supervisor is a staff officer, and not an admin- 
istrative official. 

4, The principal is both an administrative and a supervisory 
official. 

5. The principal must be the executive-in-chief with supreme 
authority in his school, and should be directly responsible 
to the superintendent of schools. 

6. The principal must receive guidance from a skilled in- 

structional expert, namely the supervisor. 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 67 


7. Cases of conflict in instructional policies between principals 
and supervisors should be settled by the superintendent 
of schools.. 

8. The principal’s most effective means of improving instruc- 
tion are, direct assistance to individual teachers, visita- 
tion and conference, careful lesson planning, and demon- 
stration teaching. 

9. The supervisor’s most effective means of improving instruc- 
tion are indirect assistance, research, making courses of 
study, creating standards, and providing suitable ma- 
terials.?4 

10. Classroom visitation by SAEs should be placed on 
the service basis, that is “on eall.” 

11. The work of the several special supervisors should be 
coordinated through some such organization ¢ as the super- 
visory council. 

12. Special supervision should be organized on the vertical 
plan, and extend through grades 1-12. 

13. The training functions of supervisors should include prin- 
cipals as well as teachers. 

14. Teachers should get all announcements, notices, directions, 
directly from the principal. 

15. Supervision should be a cooperative undertaking of teach- 
ers, principals, and supervisors. 

16. Supervision should be thoroughly democratic in spirit. 


Many supervisors and administrators will probably differ 
with the writers concerning the implied distinction between 
administration and supervision. Objections to rigid, hard 
and fast differentiation are probably sound, at least for the 
present stage of development. Distinctions must be of the 
common-sense variety and be used to further actual working 
conditions. It is in fact, difficult to make a clearcut differen- 
tiation either theoretically or practically, but some distine- 


24 Statements numbers 8 and 9 should not be misinterpreted to mean 
that the principal and supervisor should use only the means of im- 
proving instruction listed. Emphasis is placed here on the most 
effectwwe means for each. The entire range of supervisory activity 
is open, of course, to both principal and supervisor. ‘lhe two state- 
ments are not mutually exclusive. 


68 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


tion must be attempted in the interests of efficiency. This 
will not lead to further differentiation in the sense of split- 
ting apart, as some seem to fear. There must be differentia- 
tion before there can be codperation. Before two workers 
can cooperate, each must understand clearly his field of 
activity. Without some distinction there results a ‘‘no 
man’s land’’ which is either neglected or fought over by the 
two groups of workers. The first step in getting together in 
cooperation is getting apart in definition. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


1. Auten, J. G., “The Supervisory Work of Principals,” School 
Review, Vol. 1, May, 1893, pp. 291-96. An early treat- 
ment which is sound. | 

2. Ayer, Fred C., “The Principal and the Special Supervisor,” 
Bulletin of the Department of Elementary School Princi- 
pals, Vol. 4, April, 1925, pp. 143-54. 

, “The Rise of Special Supervision and Departmental 
Organization,” Studies in Administrative Research, Seattle 
Publie Schools, Bulletin No. 1, 1925, Chap. IT. 

4, Backus, Bertie, “Supervision of Instruction in High 
Schools,” Educational Administration and Supervision, 
Vol. 11, Feb., 1925, pp. 112-17. Plea for supervision in 
high school. Favors general supervisor rather than prin- 
cipal or department head. 

5. Bates, Guy, “Function of the Elementary School Principal,” 
Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 4, Jan., 1925, pp. 
178-84. 

6. Braurncer, Nina J., “Administration of City Supervision in 
Work with the Foreign Born,” Proceedings of the National 
Edueation Association, Vol. 61, 1923, pp. 695-98. 

7. Bossirr, Franklin, “Supervisory Leadership on the Part of 
the High School Principal,” School Review, Vol. 27, Dec., 
1919, pp. 733-47. 








8. —, “The Building Principal in the Surveys,” Hlementary 
School Journal, Vol. 19, Oct., 1918, 106-20. 
9. , “Mistakes Often Made by Principals,” two parts, 





Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, Jan. and Feb., 1920, 
pp. 337-46, 419-34. 


10. 


ANE 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


AWE 


18. 


19. 


20. 


21. 


22. 


23. 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 69 


“Building Principal and Special Supervisors; How Related 
at Atchison, Kansas,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 21, 
Oct., 1920, pp. 82-84. Summarizes rules of school board. 
Principal is allowed little authority. 

Chicago Principals’ Club, “Supervision Report of the Educa- 
tion Committee, Bulletin No. 2, 1924, pp. 24-27. 

Corson, D. B., “The Elementary School Principal from the 
Viewpoint of the Superintendent,’ Proceedings of the Na- 
tional Edueation Association, Vol. 60, 1922, pp. 852-60. 
Good. 

Davis, C. O., “The Duties of the High School Principal,” 
School Review, Vol. 29, May, 1921, pp. 337-50. Concrete 
and interesting. Valuable for grade principal as well. 
Time activity list very illuminating. 

“Denver Supervisory Council,’ Journal of Educational 
Method, Vol. 2, May, 1923, p. 396. Brief note. 

Dunn, Fannie W., “The Distinction between Administration 
and Supervision,” Educational Administration and Super- 
vision, Vol. 6, March, 1920, pp. 159-65. 

» “What Is Instructional Supervision?”, Proceedings 
of the National Education Association, Vol. 61, 1923, pp. 
758-64. 

GostinG, T. W., “Supervision without a Supervisor,” Journal 
of Educational Method, Vol. 1, April, 1922, pp. 306-11. 
Excellent. 

, “The Adjustment of the Duties of the Supervisor to 
Those of the Principal,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 
26, Sept., 1925, pp. 18-21. A most valuable article. 

Gray, W. S., “The Work of the Elementary School Princi- 
pals,” Hlementary School Journal, Vol. 19, Sept., 1918, pp. 
24-35. 

GREENE, L. S., Supervision of the Special Subjects (Bruce 
Publishing Co., 1922). Discusses powers and duties of 
special supervisors. | 

Hamiuton, Jessie M., “Supervision by the Principals,” Pro- 
ceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 61, 
1923, pp. 545-48. Good account of actual work. 

Harris, R. W., “The Organization of Supervision,’ Master’s 
thesis, 1925, on file, University of Wisconsin. 

Huprtson, Earl, “The Profession of Principal,’ School Re- 
wiew, Vol. 30, Jan., 1922, pp. 15-23. Good statistical ma- 
terial upon actual practice of principals in supervision. 








70 


24. 


25. 


26. 


20. 


28. 


29. 


30. 


ous 


32. 


33. 


34, 


35. 


36. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Hueurs, C. L., “The Functions of the School Superintendent 
in Theory and Practice,” School Board Journal, Vol. 67, 
Oct., 1923, pp. 40-42. Excellent. 

Hunter, F. M., “How Can the Superintendent and Assistant 
Superintendent Render the Most Efficient Service in Their 
Relations to Principals and Teachers?”, Proceedings of 
the National Education Association, Vol. 51, 1913, pp. 
300-303. 

, “Superintendent’s Bulletin,’ Oakland Public Schools, 

Oakland, Cal., Series No. 28, March 31, 1921. 

, “The Relation of Supervision to the Attainment of 

the Major Objectives of Elementary Education,” Proceed- 

ings of the National Education Association, Vol. 62, 1924, 

pp. 908-14. Good. 

, “ Superintendent’s Bulletin,” Oakland Public Schools, 
Oakland, Cal., Series No. 30, Vol. 4, April 10, 1924. 
Similar material to preceding reference. 

Jessup, Walter A., “The Special Factors Affecting Special 
Supervision in the Public Schools of the United States,” 
Teachers College Contributions to Education, No. 43, 











Jupp, C. H., “The High School Principal,” School Review, 
Vol. 26, Nov., 1918, pp. 641-53. 

Kocu, Harlan C., “Practicable Codperative Supervision,” 
School Board Journal, Vol. 68, March, 1924, pp. 423 ff. 
Good program, the principal as supervisor, with teacher 
participation. : 

Lincoln, Nebraska, “The Supervision Forum,’ Journal of 
Educational Method, Vol. 2, April, 1923, pp. 331-32. Brief 
note. 

Mavpen, Margaret, “The Right Relationship of Codperation 
between Principal and Supervisor: The Chicago Plan,” 
Proceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 
62, 1924, pp. 548-52. 

Marsten, C. E., “The Elementary Principal as a Profes- 
sional Leader,” Proceedings of the National Education As- 
sociation, Vol. 60, 1922, pp. 880-84. 

Mayserry, L. W., “The Principal and the Supervisor,” Ele- 
mentary School Journal, Vol. 25, Oct., 1925, pp. 116-17. 
Brief, good. 

McCuuvre, Worth, “The Functions of the Elementary School 
Principal,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 21, March, 


37. 


38. 


39. 
40. 
41. 
42. 
43. 


44, 


45. 
46. 
47. 
48. 
49. 


50. 


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 71 


1921, pp. 500-14. A valuable study summarizing replies 
to a questionnaire on status. 

McCuvre, Worth, “Professionalizing the Principalship,” Ele- 
mentary School Journal, Vol. 21, June, 1921, pp. 735-43. 
Summary of tendency. 

Morrison, H. C., “The Supervision of High School Teach- 
ers,” School Review, Vol. 27, Jan., 1919, pp. 13-23. 

NEWLON, Jesse H., “Reorganizing City Supervision,” Jour- 
nal of Educational Method, Vol. 2, June, 1923, pp. 404-11. 
Deals with field rather than organization. Suggestive. 

PatmeER, J. T., “The Importance of the Teacher in the School 
Organization,” Hlementary School Journal, Vol. 19, April, 
1919, pp. 541-44. 

Power, Leonard, “A Plan for the Supervision of Instruction 
by Principals of Elementary Schools,’ Elementary School 
Journal, Vol. 19, Feb., 1919, pp. 408-18. 

Purpom, J. L., “Supervisory Relationships from the Stand- 
point of the Teacher,’ Unpublished material, Harris 
Teachers College. 

ReEYNo tps, Alice E., “The Assistant to the Superintendent: 
His Functions, Methods, and Work,” Proceedings of the 
National Education Association, 1904, pp. 264-71. 

Ropinson, Alice, “The Passing of the City Supervisor of 
Art,” Educational Review, Vol. 66, Sept., 1923, pp. 99-102. 

“Rochester Council of Elementary School Principals,” Jour- 
nal of Educational Method, Vol. 4, June, 1925, pp. 427-28. 
Brief note. 

Seattle, Wash., “Study Groups of the Principals’ Associa- 
tion,” Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 4, May, 1925, 
pp. 397-98. Brief note. 

Stmpson, Mabel E., “Relation between Principals and Su- 
pervisors,” Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 3, Feb., 
1924, p. 226. Good. 

Span, C. L., “A Statement of the Policy Concerning the 
Supervision of Instruction,’ Detroi¢ Journal of Educa- 
tion, Vol. 3, May, 1923. 

Spencer, R. A., “The Work of the School Principal in 
Supervision,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, Nov., 
1919, pp. 176-89. Good. 

TARBELL, R. W., “Job Analysis of the Principal as a Super- 
visor of Instruction,’ School Board Journal, Vol. 70, 
March, 1925, pp. 54 ff. 


72 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


51. Wurtnry, Frank P., “The Principal as Supervisor,” Hduca- 
tion, Vol. 45, Sept., 1924, pp. 14-19. Good practical 
analysis. 

52. Wiupg, A. H., “The Principal’s Duty in Improving Instruc- 
tion,” School Review, Vol. 24, Oct., 1916, pp. 617-25. Ex- 
cellent. 


CHAPTER III 
PRINCIPLES OF SUPERVISION 


One of the amusements of a certain nationally famous 
professor of education is to analyze humorously before his 
classes books, pamphlets, or articles which purport to dis- 
cuss ‘‘principles.’’ The gentleman is gifted with brilliant 
wit. His satires are keenly critical and to the point. (In 
fairness it should be said that he points out the difficulties 
with which an author is confronted in attempting to discuss 
principles in any field.) His classes are assured an hour’s 
entertainment whenever he appears with a new publication 
discussing principles, whether of administration, supervi- 
sion, management, teaching, or whatnot in the field of edu- 
cation. The contention is that ‘‘principles’’ are conspicu- 
ous by their absence in most of the publications which bear 
in their titles the word ‘‘principles.’’ The worst of it is, 
the critical professor is, for the most part, right. Except 
in the field of principles of teaching, there is a lamentable 
lack of clear statements of underlying principles. One of 
the most difficult tasks before the theorist and writer in 
education is the discovery and statement of fundamental 
and comprehensive principles. 

Supervision is as badly off as is any other field of 
education. In preparing the present discussion there 
were collected all the books, pamphlets, and articles 
that eould be found which discussed principles of super- 
vision. In the great majority of these discussions there 
appears not a single solitary principle. Some of the dis- 
eussions do not relate even remotely to principles. Several 

73 


74 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


writers have, however, produced statements of principle 
of varying degrees of value. A brief summary follows. 

McMurry’s principles. During the New York City sur- 
vey McMurry developed a set of four standards or prin- 
ciples which he applied to instruction, course of study, 
and supervision in the elementary schools. Changing the 
original language somewhat, these principles may be 
stated as follows:? 


1. Supervision must inspire the teacher, must contribute to 
her insight and enthusiasm, and must provide her with 
motive. 

2. Supervision must assist and direct the teacher in the mat- 
ter of organization (of subject matter, method, routine, 
ete.). 

3. Supervision must assist and direct the teacher in the matter 
of weighing relative values (between activities, facts, 
methods, eic.). 

4. Supervision must provide for and stimulate independence, 
initiative, and self-expression on the part of the teacher. 


As a statement of underlying principles the foregoing 
are obviously incomplete and lacking in organization. Even 
for statements of principle they are rather too broad and 
general. While this type of principle is not looked upon 
with favor to-day, these particular principles have been 
used widely in the past. Unquestionably they stimulated 
much valuable discussion and progress in elementary educa- 
tion. McMurry’s own discussion of instruction, course of 
study, and supervision, in the light of these principles is 
replete with excellent concrete illustrations, valuable to the 
teacher and supervisor of to-day. 

Bobbitt’s principles of scientific management. Writing 
under the influence of the then prominent ‘‘scientifie man- 
agement’’ concept as applied to business and industry, 


1F. M. MeMurry, Elementary School Standards (copyright, 1914, 
by World Book Co., Yonkers-on-Hudson, N. Y.) pp. 5-12, 175-211. 


PRINCIPLES OF SUPERVISION 75 


Bobbitt ? evolved a set of principles published in the Four- 
teenth Yearbook, Part I, of the National Society for the 
Study of Education. Despite the interesting and stimulat- 
ing discussion accompanying the principles, the material 
has never been especially popular and seems to have had 
little influence. 

There are two reasons for this lack of influence. First, 
there is an emphasis on the industrial origin of the prin- 
ciples, and considerable mention of the conditions governing 
the efforts of workers in industry. This proved distasteful 
to administrators and teachers. Bobbitt hoped by stating 
the principles in terms of a field other than education, to 
enable educators to view them more impersonally and im- 
partially. The second, defect, one which ultimately defeated 
the principles in the field of their origin—industry—is the 
absence of the modern conception of codperation. To the 
scientific manager of a generation ago, codperation meant 
eompliance on the part of the worker with the directions 
handed down from experts of the planning room above. 
There was no provision for interchange of opinion and ex- 
perience. 

Despite these difficulties the principles could have been 
of considerable value in their day, if translated and ap- 
plied. A summary is of historical interest; the reader can 
easily translate into educational terms: 


1. Definite qualitative and quantitative standards must be de- 
termined for the product. 

2. Where material is acted upon by the labor processes, and 
passes through a number of progressive stages on its 
way from the raw material to the ultimate product, 
qualitative and quantitative standards must be deter- 
mined for the product at each of these stages. 


2 Franklin Bobbitt, ‘‘The Supervision of City Schools,’’ Twelfth 
Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part I, 
(Public School Publishing Co., 1913). 


76 


10. 


ze 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Scientific management finds the methods of procedure which 
are most efficient for actual service under actual condi- 

_ tions, and secures their use on the part of the workers. 

Standard qualifications must be determined for the workers. 

The management must train its workers previous to ser- 
vice in the measure demanded by its standard qualifi- 
cations, or it must set up entrance requirements of so 
specific and detailed a nature as to enforce upon train- 
ing institutions the output of a supply of workers pos- 
sessing the desirable qualifications in the degree neces- 
sary for entrance into service. 

The worker must be kept supplied with derailed instrue- 
tions for his kind of work during his entire service. 


. The worker must be kept supplied with detailed instruc- 


tions as to the work to be done, the standards to be 
reached, the methods to be employed, and the appliances 
to be used. 


. It is a function of the management to discover and to 


supply the tools and appliances which are most effective 
for the work in hand. 


. Responsibility must be definite and undivided in the case 


of each task to be performed in the total series of proc- 
esses. 

Incentives must be placed before the workers so as to 
stimulate the output on their part of the optimum 
product. 

In a productive organization, the management must de- 
termine the order and sequence of all of the various 
processes through which the raw material or the par- 
tially developed product shall pass, in order to bring 
about the greatest possible effectiveness and economy; 
and it must see that the raw material or partially fin- 
ished product is actually passed on from process to 
process, from worker to worker, in the manner that is 
most effective and most economical. 


Hanus’ principles of administration. One of the most 
important and stimulating discussions is to be found in 
Hanus’ essay on underlying principles of administration.® 


3 Paul Hanus, School Administration and School Reports, collection 
of essays (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1920), pp. 38-39. 


PRINCIPLES OF SUPERVISION 17 


The statements are, perforce, broad and general, and seem 
to relate more directly to administration than to supervi- 
sion. However, the two fields are controlled in their funda- 
mentals by the same or very similar principles. Specific 
application of some or all of the statements to supervision 
can easily be made: 


A clear conception of the purposes for which the school system 
exists—the work it has to do. 

An equally clear conception on the part of all concerned with 
this work of the nature, scope, and limits of each branch of 
the service; that is, of the board, and the staff. 

Centralization of authority and responsibility for effective lay 
control in the board, and for professional and business manage- 
ment in the staff. 

Complete accountability of the staff to the board and of the 
board to the people. 

Habitual, well-organized self-examination to determine the re- 
sults actually achieved, including experimental verification or 
refutation of educational opinion within and without the school 
system. 

A system of clear, adequate, incontestable, and accessible rec- 
ords of the educational results progressively achieved for the in- 
formation of the staff, the board, and the public. 

A similar system of financial records or accounts for the same 
purpose. 

Cooperation throughout the school system, under the leader- 
ship of the superintendent and the supervisory staff, in both the 
professional and the business affairs; cooperation of these 
branches of the service with each other and with the teachers; 
‘and cooperation of the community with the school system. 


Kilpatrick’s ‘‘principles of sane supervision.’’ Under 
the foregoing title there is presented a series of theses ar- 
ranged in three trilogies as follows: * 


I. Growing Is the Great End, the Growing of All Together 
1. Growing is the essence of the good life. To grow is 
to live, the only way to live well. 


4“*Supervisors En Masse,’’ Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 2, 
Oct., 1922, pp. 86-87. 


78 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


2. The teacher’s business is to help the children thus to 
grow, grow in such fashion that others whom they 
influence shall in turn so grow. 

3. The supervisor’s business is with the teachers, to help 
them to grow—to grow as persons in themselves, to 
grow specifically in such fashion that they will best 
help their children to grow. 


Il. Professional Study Is Necessary 


1. A proper study of available sources will throw sig- 
nificant light on the purpose and bearing of educa- 
tion, on the nature and process of learning, on the 
nature and function of subject matter, and on the 
nature and function of method. 

2. If teachers will progressively avail themselves of the 
foregoing, they will themselves the more likely grow 
—and be the happier therefor—and their pupils 
will in turn the more likely grow—and be the hap- 
pier. 

3. It is the supervisor’s duty to be able and disposed to 
lead the teaching body in and to the progressive ap- 
propriation and application of the professional ma- 
terial suggested above. In this it is highly advan- 
tageous that all concerned feel themselves as pioneers 
working together in a joint social venture. 


III. Democratic Supervision Demands Respect for Personality 
1. Democracy demands that each respect the other’s per- 
sonality as it now is and with reference to what it 
may become. 


2. The right of self-direction follows from the respect 


due to personality, a right to be accorded in the 
degree that others are equally considered. 

3. The good teacher will grant the greatest feasible self- 
direction to the pupils; this means growing in them 
and respect for their personalities. In like manner, 
the supervisor will ever seek to extend the self- 
direction of the teachers; it brings growth to them; 
it respects their personalities. Democracy is thus 
served. 


This statement has been sharply criticized by students. 


PRINCIPLES OF SUPERVISION 79 


First, it is thought that No. II is by no means correlative 
with Nos. I and III, and is really a technique subsumed 
under No. I. Secondly, there is noted an absence of refer- 
ence to the objective, scientific, and research side of super- 
vision. The latter is thought necessary to supplement the 
excellent philosophic summary above. The criticisms may 
or may not be justified. The statement is valuable since it 
presents and reflects the Dewey philosophy of education 
with its emphasis on democracy, freedom, and growth. 

Few concepts in education have been more abused than 
that of democracy. This situation has, of course, been par- 
alleled in the world at large. Because of mistaken ideas 
concerning democracy many foolish demands have been 
made, and many untenable positions taken by workers in 
all lines, including teachers. On the other hand, many 
administrators, for the same reason, have seemed almost to 
renounce their rights as leaders and executives. Let us 
digress a moment upon the matter of democracy in educa- 
tion in general, and ia supervision in particular. 

Since the War much has been said concerning democracy 
by every one from presidents and prime ministers to police- 
men and plumbers. The pedagogue has not failed to add 
his remarks. Democracy has implicitly in it the idea of 
delegated authority and of obedience to properly constituted 
expert leadership. It must be realized by all concerned 
that supervision, in schools or anywhere else, is a matter of 
constructive, cooperative leadership, if a general term may 
be permitted. There is no question, of course, that author- 
ity should be delegated most judiciously, and that expert 
leaders should be rigorously trained and carefully selected. 
Much of the criticism that has come from the teaching staff 
concerning supervision indicates that the critics themselves 
have been somewhat lacking in a correct understanding of 
what true democracy is. 

Many of the strictures on the lack of democracy are not 


80 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


based so much upon any real lack of democracy in the lead- 
ership as upon the fact that there is leadership at all. 
Liberty and freedom under leadership is not desired so 
much as liberty and freedom from leadership of any kind. 
The liberty of whim, notion, and caprice is desired in place 
of the liberty of real democracy. Teachers often resent 
supervision before they have been subject to it, or before 
they know anything about it. On this pot we may quote 
Susan M. Dorsey, Superintendent of Schools, Los Angeles, 
California : ° 


Whether supervision liberates teachers depends also somewhat 
upon the teachers. There are formal, hide-bound, minute-minded 
teachers who cannot enter into the freedom which wise super- 
vision brings. Such teachers are enslaved to themselves. If by 
chance they were to reach the end of a ten-foot tether they 
would fear falling off the edge of the world. It is unsafe to 
offer supervision to such, in the form of a plan, for they follow 
the plan slavishly as the last word of wisdom. It is unsafe to 
suggest to such a standard of achievement for themselves or 
their pupils, for they will sacrifice pleasure, rest, even health 
itself, to pursue the standard. Mere hopeless drudges! 

Some teachers refuse freedom by creating an atmosphere of 
strife in their own soul against the imagined bondage of super- 
vision. That a supervisor modestly requests them to do a piece 
of work in a certain way provokes their antagonism and arouses 
a desire to do it otherwise. I recently had a lengthy conference 
with such a teacher. She was contentious, self-satisfied, factious 
about trifles, even to the point of demanding to be an exception 
to so small a matter as the position her class would oceupy in 
an exercise where lack of uniformity would mar the symmetry 
of the whole performance, demanding also exemption from fol- 
lowing the method prescribed in a certain exercise. This teacher 
imagined she was seeking freedom; in fact, she was the slave 
of her own whims and eaprices, and the wise supervision which 
was helping the other teachers only served in her case to tighten 
the chains of an unlovely spirit. 


5S. M. Dorsey, ‘‘Supervision as Liberating the Teacher,’’ Pro- 
ceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 55, p. 241. 


PRINCIPLES OF SUPERVISION 81 


An even more emphatic statement is found in Hosic’s 
article on ‘‘The Democratization of Supervision’’: ® 


He [the supervisor] is indispensable, and where he is actually 
functioning, there is little excuse for agitation for more democ- 
racy in the school system. If agitation there is, it will be found 
to spring mainly from a desire to lead rather than be led. In 
fact, under the guise of democracy devoted may too often be 
deseried, only too thinly concealed, the ugly form of bolshevism 
rampant. 


When a teacher accepts a position, she tacitly accepts the 
form of government under which her contract was written 
and which guarantees her salary. Her freedom does not 
lie in changing things to suit her own convenience but in 
evolving new and better ways to do her work. She should 
not place emphasis upon the fact that she is being super- 
vised and directed, but should assume that she will be su- 
pervised and directed in an intelligent and helpful way. 
And if much supervision is not intelligent and helpful, 
nevertheless it must be approached with the democratic 
idea of codperation. When this is done, the teacher will 
find that she is benefited, even if only a little. Poor super- 
vision will be eliminated most effectively by increasing the 
efficiency of teaching and educating public opinion to un- 
derstand that the supervisors must be equipped better than 
the teachers, and must be trained and selected from the best 
material available. 

Much of the discussion on the part of teachers regarding 
lack of democracy is due to an incorrect idea of what democ- 
racy really is. But, on the other hand, much of the respon- 
sibility rests squarely upon the supervisor. He must see his 
position as that of an active, positive, constructive leader, 
and not as that of an inspector or ‘‘whipcracker.’’ It is his 


6 J. F. Hosic, ‘‘The Democratization of Supervision,’’ School and 
Society, Vol. 11, March 20, 1920, pp. 331-36. 


82 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


duty to direct, but the element of coercion is not essential 
to direction, its place being filled by the element of assist- 
anee. He is directing persons whose intelligence and train- 
ing he should utilize to the fullest extent; there should be 
no thought of substituting his intelligence for that of the 
teaching staff. , 

This extended discussion of democracy in supervision has 
been given in order to emphasize some of the difficult prob- 
lems the supervisor will meet, the reasons for them, and the 
possibility of their solution. 

Burton’s statement of principles. Attempting to use 
the best from all earlier statements, Burton used the follow- 
ing principles as basic in his text, Supervision and the Im- 
provement of Teaching.” The list is not so well organized 
as it might be but the individual principles are sound and 
the list has served to stimulate discussion. 


1. The aim of supervision is the improvement of teaching. 

2. Supervision will inspire and encourage the good teacher 
toward further study, toward experimentation, toward 
preparation for higher positions and more responsibility. 

3. Supervision will redirect and improve the work of the 
average and mediocre teacher. It will eliminate those 
teachers who fail to measure up to definite standards of 
good teaching. 

4, Supervision proceeds upon the basis of definite, well-under- 
stood standards. 

5. Supervision proceeds upon the basis of a definite, organized 
program. 

6. Supervision must supply the means of enabling teachers 
to live up to the standards set and to carry out the 
program outlined. 

7. Supervision is essentially a codperative procedure. 

8. While the application of the standards and the realization 
of the program must be authoritative, scientific, and 
impersonal, there must be manifested a kindly and sym- 
pathetic spirit. 


7W. H. Burton, Supervision and the Improvement of Teaching 
\D. Appleton & Co. 1922), pp. 10-12. 


PRINCIPLES OF SUPERVISION 83 


. Supervision must develop and encourage on the part of 


the teachers initiative, self-reliance, intelligent independ- 
ence, and the successful assumption of responsibility. It 
must capitalize the teachers’ ability and experience. 


. The administrative aspect of supervision is secondary to 


the pedagogical. 


. When supervision is inspectorial, it should never be simply 


that and nothing more. 


. Supervision must be judged by its results. 
. The supervisor must be specifically and definitely trained 


for his work. 


. The type of democratic leadership involved in supervision 


demands the highest type of well-rounded, poised per- 
sonality. 


Barr’s Detroit statement of principles. A rather com- 
plete and coherently organized statement is to be found in 
a circular issued by the Detroit Public Schools. - This out- 
line summarizes the basic, underlying principles for the 
theory of supervision presented in this volume. 


PRINCIPLES OF SUPERVISION 


1. Supervision Must Be Democratic. 


(a) Supervision should stimulate and encourage initiative, 
self-reliance, responsibility, and the intelligent in- 
terpretation of instructional policies on the part of 
the teacher, the principal, and the supervisor. 

(b) Supervision must recognize and deal sympathetically 
with the problems of human relationships in their 
efforts to improve instruction. 

(c) Supervision should represent “democratic leadership 
in a group of co-workers, to the end that the pupils 
of the schools may make the largest possible growth 
in desirable ideals, interests, knowledge, powers, 
and skills, with the least waste of energy, and the 
greatest amount of satisfaction to all concerned.” 


ns Supervision Must Be a Codperative Undertaking of Teach- 


ers, Principals, and Supervisors. This ean be accom- 
plished: 


84 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


(a) Through the recognition of the distinctive contribu- 
tion of each to the improvement of instruction 

(b) Through a clear definition of responsibilities 

(c) Through the realization that not only teachers but 
principals and supervisors as well, are learners in 
the study and observation of classroom problems 

(dq) Through the general encouragement and conservation 
of contributions from teachers as well as from the 
heads of departments, principals, and supervisors 

(e) Through the organization, evaluation, and coodrdina- 
tion of the efforts of those concerned with the im- 
provement of instruction 


3. Supervision Must Distinguish between Instruction and Ad- 
ministration. This can be done: 


(a) Through the clearance of all administrative matters 
through regular administrative channels 

(b) Through the recognition of the principal as respon- 
sible for instructional conditions within his building 

(c) Through the recognition of instructional experts as 
responsible for general instructional conditions and 
for the adequacy of this program in the several 
fields of instruction 


4. Supervision Must Be Scientific. This should find expres- 
sion through: 


(a) A common scientific background for principals, 
teachers, and supervisors 

(b) The development of definite, well-understood objec- 
tive standards for judging and improving the qual- 
ity of instruction (whatever standards are used 
should be known in advance by the one where 
teaching is being judged) 

(c) An experimental and laboratory study of instrue- 
tional problems 

(d) Interpretative measurements of results 


5. Supervision Must Center upon the Improvement of Instruc- 
tion. That is, expert supervision, 

(a) Should lead teachers to a broad vision of teaching 

problems, to a broad range of experience so that 

the work of one grade may he seen in relation 


PRINCIPLES OF SUPERVISION 85 


to the work of other grades, to an understanding 
of needed revisions, of necessary growth and of the 
final outcomes of instruction 

(6b) Should lead teachers to master the technique of class- 
room instruction, to establish good teaching habits, 
and to develop high standards of teaching efficiency 

(c) Should lead teachers to persistent study of teaching 
problems, to experimentation, and to the use of 
classroom as a pedagogical laboratory in which to 
revise and improve methods of instruction 


6. Supervision Must Be a Clearly Defined, Definitely Organized 
Program. This program should be progressive from year 
to year and should include: 


(a) A statement of the objectives of the program. 

(6) The means for arriving at the established goals 

(c) The checks and standards by which progress is to 
be measured. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


. Bospirr, Franklin, “The Supervision of City Schools,” 
Twelfth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of 
Education, Part I (Public School Publishing Co., 1913). 

, “Supervisory Leadership on the Part of the High 
School Principal,’ School Review, Vol. 27, Dec., 1919, pp. 
733-47. Good statement of principles. 

. Burton, W. H., Supervision and the Improvement of Teach- 
ing (D. Appleton & Co., 1922), Chap. I. 

. Dorsey, Susan M., “Supervision as Liberating the Teacher,” 
Proceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 
55, 1917, pp. 239-43. 

. Dunn, Fannie W., “What Is Instructional Supervision?’’, 
Proceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 
61, 1923, pp. 758-64. 

. Hanvs, Paul, School Administration and School Reports, a 
collection of essays (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1920), pp. 
38-39 

. Hottoway, W. J., “What Are the Activities of the State 
Superintendent That Directly Influence the Results of In- 
struction?”, Proceedings of the National Education Asso- 
ciation, Vol. 61, 1923, pp. 764-65. 





86 


10. 


A 


12. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


. Hostc, J. F., “The Democratization of Supervision,” School 


and Society, Vol. 11, March 20, 1920, pp. 331-36. 


. McMurry, F. M., Elementary School Standards (World 


Book Co., 1914), pp. 5-12, 175-211. 

MuGan, Mary, “Cooperative Supervision,” Journal of Edu- 
cational Method, Vol. 2, Dec., 1922, pp. 140-45. General 
and discursive but has some good points. Emphasizes 
teamwork. 

Scort, Z. E., “Supervisory Policies,” Hducational Admin- 
istration and Supervision, Vol. 5, Sept., 1919, pp. 335-38. 
Good early discussion. 

“Supervisors En Masse,” Journal of Educational Method, 
Vol. 2, Oct., 1922, pp. 86-88. 


CHAPTER IV 
THE PLANNING OF SUPERVISION 


Planning is a fundamental principle of supervision. In 
one of the best brief discussions of supervision Coffman ? 
lists four defects in the process, one of which is that ‘‘super- 
vision does not fulfill its promises.’? He might well have 
said that supervision fails to make any promises. In too 
many situations there is no definite, well-organized plan 
for supervision, setting forth the objectives for the year’s 
work and outlining the program by which these objectives 
are to be attained. Even where there is a sort of plan, 
vague and general, there is often no definite constructive 
work toward its fulfillment. In other cases supervisors 
are submerged in routine details and can make no plans. 
In still others they are mere roundsmen traveling from 
building to building. In many eases the work, while actu- 
ally valuable in some degree and accomplishing some good, 
is haphazard and does not follow a carefully constructed 
plan. Supervision all too often fails to make any promises 
as to what it will accomplish. In many places of course this 
criticism would not apply, since well-organized plans devel- 
oped by properly trained people, are in evidence fulfilling 
the promises of supervision in highly efficient manner. 

Theoretical support for the principle of planning. Al- 
though practice falls badly behind theory, as we shall see, 
there is striking unanimity of opinion in regard to the 


-1L. D. Coffman, ‘‘The Control of Educational Progress through 
School Supervision,’’ Proceedings of the National Education Asso- 
ciation, Vol. 55, pp. 187-194, 1917. 


87 


88 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


theory of planning. Experts in rural and city supervision, 
building principals, and general writers on education seem 
at one in this matter. 

John M. Foote, supervisor of rural elementary schools im 
Louisiana, sums up the matter pithily: ” 


Experience has demonstrated that organizing and prescribing 
a program for the guidance of the school interests is essential 
to the success of instructional supervision. ... A supervisor 
without a program has no point of departure and no destination. 


Bonser says: ® 


The two problems, that of the work of supervision and that 
of a plan of supervision sufficiently definite to measure the 
result of its operation [are] inseparably connected. The worth 
of supervision [can] not be determined without an adequate plan 
for supervision... . 


Another similar statement taken from an article by Max- 
well follows: * 


The purpose of supervision is to realize the purposes for which 
the school has been established. The supervisor must have an 
ideal of an end which he wishes to accomplish, an ideal of the 
methods by which the goal will be best attained, and an idea of 
the obstacles which must be overcome in adjusting means to 
reach the end.... 

Much ineffective supervision exists because the supervisor has 
failed to make definite plans. 


One of the best summaries of the point is to be found in 
an article by E. A. Adams,° then District Superintendent 


2J. M. Foote, ‘‘A State Program of Instructional Supervision,’’ 
Journal of Rural Education, Vol. 1, April, 1922, pp. 337-41; also 
Proceedings of the National Education Association, 1922, p. 1149. 

3. G. Bonser, Introduction to Pittman’s The Value of School 
Supervision (Warwick & York, 1921) pp. 1-2. 

4C. R. Maxwell, ‘‘Effective Supervision,’’? School and Society, 
Vol. 11, Feb. 21, 1920, pp. 214-17. 

5H. A. Adams, ‘‘The Principal’s Program of Professional Ac- 
tivities,’’? Elementary School Journal, Vol. 23, No. 10, June, 1923, 
p. 733. 


THE PLANNING OF SUPERVISION 89 


of Philadelphia, in which is set forth a detailed account 
of planning and training principals to plan. The discussion 
is unusually practical and concrete. Although dealing with 
the building principal’s plans, the article should be studied 
earefully by both superintendents and principals. Quoting: 


It [the plan] serves to insure a definite professional program, 
adapted to the needs of the school and to the ability of the 
principal, which must be used as a guide to the principal in his 
work of supervision. It makes certain that the principal has 
thought his way through certain of the more urgent problems 
of his organization and has planned to attempt to solve some of 
them. It acts as a check on the judgment of the principal as 
to the conditions in his school and indicates his ability to formu- 
late a professional program for improvement of these conditions. 
Jt stimulates the principal to definite professional activity. It 
aids in bringing about an improvement in the type of teachers’ 
meetings being held by making them the center of a definite pro- 
fessional program. It gives the superintendent such knowledge 
of the plans of the principal for the supervision of the work of 
his school as will enable him to assist the principal in the 
formulation, criticism, and carrying out of these plans. It allows 
the superintendent to make such modifications in the program as 
his knowledge of the school and his professional judgment seems 
to render expedient. The superintendent is able to plan with 
greater definiteness his own professional work in the schools and 
to relate this work to that of the principal. Such a plan has 
been found to result in definite, clear-cut aims in the professional 
work of both principal and superintendent, to enable the de- 
velopment of standardized procedures, effectively directed, and to 
prevent the loss attendant on haphazard professional work. In 
a word it has been found to result in a degree and a type of 
professional activity highly beneficial to the work of instruction 
in the schools. 


A somewhat longer discussion which may be studied with 
profit is to be found in Cubberley, The Principal and. His 
_School.® 


6K. P. Cubberley, The Principal and His School, pp. 50 ff., also 
Chap. XXII. 


90 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Practical support for the principle of planning. Turn- 
ing from theory to practice we find a large gap between the 
two. An exhaustive search of the literature reveals but few 
discussions of the practical formulation of plans and their 
workings. The list of plans in print is so meager as to be 
almost nonexistent. The few available discussions possess 
the merit, however, of being specific and definite. Extracts 
and sample plans are quoted later in this chapter. 

A number of graduate students in supervision at the Uni- 
versity of Cincinnati, during the year 1924-25, carried on 
an extensive investigation into supervisory planning and 
the results were surprisingly negative.’ An inquiry was 
sent to 259 cities of all sizes, in all parts of the country, © 
asking about their supervisory planning. Nearly 75 
per cent of the superintendents responded, giving an 
unusually safe basis for some statements in regard to the 
practice of planning. Only 5 or 6 cities sent in typed 
or mimeographed plans. Several of the larger cities indi- 
eated that their work was thoroughly planned, but the ex- 
tent of their work is such that it cannot be reduced to one 
simple statement of plans. As will be indicated later, the 
planning for large cities must differ in some respects from 
that of the smaller cities, and rural units, even though the 
underlying principles are identical. With these few excep- 
tions, most of the superintendents indicated or stated di- 
rectly that they did not know what supervisory planning 
meant. This did not mean that nothing was being done. 
From their letters and from the printed reports which many 
of them forwarded, it was evident that much excellent work 
was in progress. The work consisted, for the most part, 
however, of what is called classroom supervision, namely, 
visitation, conference, demonstration teaching, teachers’ 
meetings, etc. Very rarely indeed was this work organ- 


7 Unpublished materials, University of Cincinnati. 


THE PLANNING OF SUPERVISION oF 


ized around any central problem, growing out of the needs 
of the schools. 

The students investigating the matter felt that lack of 
good supervisory plannin® was due to the following reasons: 


1. The concept of supervision as the improvement of teaching 
is still new. The inspectorial idea still persists in many 
places. In many others where practice is better than in- 
spection, it is limited rather narrowly to classroom suver- 
vision. 

2. The great mass of supervisors are still inadequately trained 

for the work. 

3. The pressing nature of administrative and clerical duties 
prevents proper attention to comprehensive supervisory 
planning. 

4. Lack of clear definition of function, and allocation of duty 
for superintendent, principal, and supervisor is an ob- 
stacle to the development of supervisory programs. 

5. The fact that the teaching body is far from homogeneous 
makes the work difficult to plan. 


The last difficulty is, of course, somewhat local in its 
application and is by no means insuperable. The reasons 
given above are based directly upon returns from superin- 
tendents, supervisors, and principals. 

Some sample supervisory plans. Pittman’s zone plan for 
rural supervision. We may now examine a number of 
sample plans taken from actual practice, in order to dis- 
cover how such plans are evolved, stated, carried out, and 
tested. Two of the best discussions are found in the field 
of rural supervision and are discussed here at some length 
because of the clarity with which both principle and prac- 
tice are illustrated. With but slight modification the dis- 
cussion can be applied to city supervision as well. Pittman 
Says: & 


A plan of supervision in which the supervisor divides his en- 





8M. 8. Pittman, The Value of School Supervision (Warwick & 
York, 1921). pp. 19-20. 


92 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


tire supervisory district into territorial units, each of which 
serves as the territorial limits for one week of supervisory ef- 
fort, has been designated as the zone plan. The purpose back 
of such territorial organization is to provide for systematic 
supervision of classroom instruction, for convenient, effective, and 
democratic teachers’ meetings, and for the development of com- 
munity consciousness. ... 

The zone plan implies a calendar of the major events for the 
year’s work. A college announces its calendar of events a year 
in advance. Why should not a supervisory district do so? Such 
a calendar was made for the zone in which the experiment was 
conducted. The calendar was made in the early days of Sep- 
tember and carried out exactly as planned without the change of 
a single major item. Many minor details were introduced from 
month to month. The major plans and dates for the year gave 
stability and continuity to the work. The minor plans and dates 
provided variety and freshness. 

The major events of the zone calendar (plan) consisted of (1) 
supervisory tours, and (2) teachers’ meetings. The calendar as 
made, announced and carried out with only a single exception 
was as follows: 


1. Supervisory Tours 


September 28 to October 10—Initial survey of the experi- 
mental and control groups of schools. 

October 27 to November 1—First supervisory tour. Im- 
provement in the speed and comprehension of silent 
reading. 

November 17 to November 22—Second supervisory tour. 
Language: Elimination of spoken errors. 

December 15 to December 19—Third supervisory tour. 
Spelling: Agricultural words as an agency for awaken- 
ing a community interest in schools and developing a 
group consciousness. 

January 18 to January 23—Fourth supervisory tour. Arith- 
metic: How to teach the four fundamental operations. 
February 15 to February 19—Fifth supervisory tour. Read- 

ing: How to secure effective oral reading. 

March 15 to March 19—Sixth supervisory tour. Language: 
How to develop a love for good literature. Health; How 
to develop habits of health. 


THE PLANNING OF SUPERVISION 93 


April 11 to April 17—Seventh supervisory tour. Spelling: 
Forming the habit of correctly spelling the words most 
often used. 


2. Teachers’ Meetings 


(One meeting only is quoted here as a sample. Similar 
meetings were outlined for each of the weekly tours.) 


January 24—Fifth Meeting. Warner District No. 1. 10 a.m. 

to 3 P.M. 

(a) Two arithmetic demonstrations by teachers 

(b) Discussion of questions on arithmetic arising during the 
month 

(c) Demonstration by the supervisor in teaching oral read- 
ing 

(d@) Discussion of demonstration 

(e) Noon. Community dinner 

(f) Penmanship demonstration by specialist 

(g) Program by children 


This plan illustrates two prime essentials: (1) the pres- 
ence of definitely stated, attainable objectives; and (2) a 
detailed discussion of the means by which these objectives 
are to be worked out. In regard to setting up the objec- 
tives, Pittman says: ° 


What phases of the school work the supervisor shall elect for 
his special attention must be determined by the special needs of 
his schools. He can possibly, with the greatest profit to the 
schools, emphasize about four different school interests or school 
subjects during the year. (This is a matter which should be 
experimentally investigated.) If he devoted himself to four 
special interests last year and if his teaching corps is practically 
the same this year, he can with profit take up four new interests 
for this year’s work. While the four selected interests will not 
be the four most needed by every teacher, the general welfare 
and progress of his schools will probably be more advanced by 
such a selection and such concentration than would be the ease if 
the supervisor permitted the special needs of every teacher to 
determine his schedule rather than the greatest need of the 


9M.S. Pittman, op. cit., pp. 1138-14. 


94 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


schools as a whole. Special needs of the teachers must be given 
attention, but they should be considered as general interests to 
be attended to in an incidental way rather than special interests 
to occupy the center of the supervisor’s attention. 


This quotation emphasizes two further essentials in plan- 
ning. The objectives should be selected in terms of the 
actual needs of the schools, and the number of these objec- 
tives should be such that the entire program is workable. 
Pittman’s discussion of the needs of imdividual teachers 
would be subject to some qualification if applied to city 
supervision, aS we shall see when we turn to sample city 
plans. 

The means of carrying out this program summarized in 
the list of teachers’ meetings, were supplemented further 
by a number of detailed devices. 


While the schedule of visits of the supervisor was announced 
at the beginning of the year for the entire year, the writer felt 
that this was not definite enough to serve the best interest of 
effective supervision. He, therefore, sent out a letter about one 
week in advance of his tour each time, announcing the details 
of the tour. He gave the exact time that he would arrive at 
each school and the length of time he would devote to each 
school.p,.4).. 

The letter also contained a few pertinent suggestions with ref- 
erence to the subject that would be under investigation during the 
tour. 


In addition to these letters, Pittman ?° sent out bulletins 
preparing the teachers to observe more intelligently the 
demonstration lessons which were to come and indicating 
the trend of discussion afterward. These are excellent 
illustrations of a supervisory device which will be illustrated 
and discussed in Chapter XI under the topic of teachers’ 
meetings and demonstration teaching. 

This lengthy account of one sample of rural supervisory 


10 [bid. 


THE PLANNING OF SUPERVISION 95 


planning is given because, as stated above, the plan illus- 
trates clearly the essentials of good procedure. The appli- 
cation to city supervision can be made easily. 

The Wood County, Ohio, plan. We may now examine 
briefly another rural supervisory plan, operating in Wood 
County, Ohio, on a somewhat different basis from that used 
by Pittman in Brown County, South Dakota. Instead of 
dividing the work by zones, this plan covers the entire 
county, and the division of labor is by grades; one super- 
visor directing the work for the lower grades throughout 
the area, and another the work in the upper grades. Super- 
intendent H. E. Hall and the assistant superintendent Miss 
Kate Offerman have attained considerable well-deserved 
prestige in the field through the excellent results attained 
by careful planning. 


Woop County, On10, ScHoot Distrricr SUPERVISION PROGRAM, 
1924-1925 


I. Aim of Supervision: Improvement of Classroom Instruction 


1. Through emphasis on Elementary English 
(1) Oral composition 
(2) Written composition 
(3) Good English Campaign Week, December 1-5 
(4) Cooperative revision of the Wood County Eng- 
lish Outline, January 11, 1925 to May, 1925 
2. Through reémphasis of work that ought io be brought 
to higher standards 
(1) Physical education 
“One Hundred Per Cent Physically Fit’ is to 
be the slogan for Wood County boys and 
girls 
(a) The acquiring of good health habits 
(b) Supervised plays and games 
(c) Calisthenics and corrective exercises 
(d) Instruction in hygiene and physiology 
(e) Becoming members of the Modern Health 
Crusade 


96 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


(f) The Making of a Cooperative Wood 
County course of study in Hygiene 
(The new state bulletin will be ready for 
distribution this year.) 
3. Testing for results: 
(1) Right classification of pupils by teachers 
(2) Silent reading, arithmetic and English 
(a) By the teacher 
(0) By the supervisor 


IT. Projects 


1. School publicity 
(1) Through use of: (a) school papers, (b) local 
and county newspapers as an avenue to public 
understanding 
(2) Through American Education Week 
(3) Through local and educational exhibits 
2. Parent Teachers Organization for constructive codpera- 
tive school work 
(1) A county organization 
(2) A local organization 
(3) Affihation of the local organization with county 
and state organizations 
3. One hundred per cent of the Wood County teachers 
doing Ohio Teachers’ Reading Circle Work 
Choose three of the following books: 
(1) Silent Reading—Germane and Germane 
(2) Personality and Social Adjustment—Ernest R. 
Groves 
(3) Modern Methods in Teaching—Wilson, Lull & 
Kyte 
(4) Life of Woodrow Wilson—Josephus Daniels 
(5) Number Helps—Lockhardt, Elredge & Brown 
4. Make Ohio Pupils’ Reading Cirele work a part of the 
required work of each child (Good to require the 
reading of three books as a requisite for promotion.) 
5. County Contests 
(1) Oral Reading—as a basis for entering County 
Declamatory Contest Groups I-IV 
(2) Music—(Keep in mind proper song material and 
eorrect tone quality) Grouns I-IV 


THE PLANNING OF SUPERVISION oF 


(3) Writing, spelling and number contests. Groups 
I-VIIl 

(4) An increase in the number of Wood County 
schools to participate in the State Musical 
Memory, March, 1925 


The program as presented includes chiefly the objectives 
with but brief reference to the means used in pursuing them 
and to the checking devices. The following discussion 
quoted from a letter from Superintendent Hall to the writer 
is of interest: 


The objectives listed under “II-Projects” are supplementary 
to the chief objective which is the improvement of instruction 
through emphasis on English, reémphasis on physical education 
and health, and through the testing program... . 

Our objectives are determined through field work, observation, 
testing, and experimental work. English was placed on a new 
topic for this year after a discussion at the superintendents’ 
meeting in May, 1925, of our oral and written English results. 
When silent reading tests were given in February, 1924, the 
results in many schools were below the test norms... . 

We had our English error survey in December and are getting 
the report in shape to show us our needs as they will appear in 
the results reported. The result will be cooperative effort to 
revise our English outline. . . . A committee has been for some 
time making an English score ecard for scoring textbooks. We 
are looking for a text to use in eliminating common errors in 
the lower grades... . 

For checking results, we have used during the present school 
year: The Monroe, and Van Wagenan Silent Reading tests, 
Wilson’s Language Error test, and Knight’s Arithmetic Experi- 
mental test material. We are now mimeographing 8,000 copies 
of our own arithmetic test sheets for grades I-VIII. A county 
gravh will be constructed from results. 


Rarely are as many supervisory devices utilized as in 
Wood County. Meetings and local institutes are held regu- 
larly at which demonstration lessons are given as well as 
general addresses. Mimeographed outlines and lesson plans 
are sent in advance to the teachers, preparing them for 


98 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


what they are to see and hear. Intelligent discussion and 
questioning are thus stimulated and time for this is pro- 
vided after the meetings. Teachers are invited to make 
written suggestions as to what they wish to have included 
in the programs, and their opinions concerning the value of 
the programs are compiled later by the superintendent. 
The needs of individual teachers are cared for by a system 
of visits on call, a device usually confined to city super- 
vision. Regular visits on schedule are made also. Another 
valuable feature of the plan is that an unfinished objective 
is carried over and emphasized during the following year. 

Planning by the building principal. In the article quoted 
above, Adams presents a detailed account of how the plan- 
ning of supervision was introduced to a group of building 
principals, and includes sample plans illustrating the 
growth of the idea. The following quotation begins with 
an early plan worked out by one of the principals: 


I am planning meetings of my teachers for this term to discuss 
the following subjects: (1) home work, (2) teaching pupils how 
to study, (3) lesson planning, (4) inductive and deductive 
methods of teaching, (5) penmanship, (6) discipline, and (7) 
silent reading. These are to be general meetings. I am also 
planning meetings of various groups of teachers to talk over 
the work and methods especially important to them. 


Adams comments on such a plan: 


It will be seen that there is no unity to the work here out- 
lined. There is not even an attempt to arrange the topics in an 
order that would permit of the development of these seemingly 
unrelated topics into a fairly definite constructive program. It 
is but a step beyond the haphazard arrangement of topics which 
might result if no effort were made to develop a program. On 
the other hand, while this program is entirely too brief and is 
lacking in suggestiveness, it is decidedly an improvement over 
the condition in which no effort is made to foresee the needs of 
the school and to plan in advance for professional work. 


11K, A. Adams, op. cit., pp. 736 ff. 


THE PLANNING OF SUPERVISION 99 


A second type of program submitted represents a higher degree 
of ability and insight into the problems of the school. 

It is going to be my aim during the coming year to cover as far 
as possible in a general way the aims, purposes, and methods of 
teaching in certain of the subjects of instruction. I feel that 
teachers would profit more this year by calling to their minds 
again the intents and purposes of the course of study, than by 
an intensive study of any one of them with the resultant neglect 
of the others. 


Tentative Program 


October: Factors entering into good teaching. 

November: English—poem appreciation. Demonstration lesson. 
December: English—oral and silent reading. 

January: .Aims and purposes of the course of study in geog- 


raphy. 

February: Civics—Interpretation of the course. Methods of 
teaching. 

Mareh: Mathematics—How to make the teaching of mathe- 
matics practical. Some devices to be used. 

April: Spelling—Aim, purposes, and suggestions on method 
of teaching. 

May: Factors entering into good teaching, reviewed in the 


light of problems studied during the year. 


Of this plan Adams says: 


This program is, to be sure, very extensive. It has, however, 
in its favor the fact that there is a definite unifying principle— 
the course of study—about which it centers, and an attempt to 
exemplify in working out the several courses the “factors enter- 
ing into good teaching.” When it is understood, as was brought 
out in the conferences which were held concerning this program 
that the topics represent not only those for faculty meetings, 
but also those to be considered by teachers of the several grades 
in their grade or group conferences, and that the program is 
to be supplemented by demonstration lessons before the 
entire group when the principle involved concerns the whole 
group, or for an individual teacher when the need is indicated, 
it will be realized that much of real value can develop from such 
a program. 


100 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Adams’ discussion takes up the adaptation of supervision 
to the needs of the individual teacher as a part of the gen-' 
eral plan. Such needs can be provided for much more 
easily in building supervision than in rural supervision. 
The usual procedure used by the supervisor is ‘‘visits on 
eall’’ rather than the regular ‘‘visits on schedule.’? <A 
complete discussion of this point will be found in Chapter 
VI, ‘‘Visitation and Conference.’’ 

The plan quoted is also open to criticism, as the discus- 
sion indicates, in that it does not outline the means by which 
the aims are to be accomplished. Finally, a third sample 
given. by Adams is presented below: 


As typical of certain of the better plans now being received, 
the following is submitted. [It] is not ideal, in fact [it] contains 
certain evidences of weakness. Nevertheless, it is apparent that 
[it] represents a stage of development higher than that repre- 
sented by earlier plans which have been presented. 

The professional work of this school for the year 1922-23 will 
center around the interpretation of the new Rating Plan for 
Teachers, and practice in its use. It is planned to have this 
work include the following: 


1. Monthly faculty meetings for the purpose of studying the 
new Rating Plan for Teachers. 

2. Group meetings from time to time by grades for the con- 
sideration of special topics. 

3. Individual conferences with teachers to discuss observations 
of classroom work. 


The topics to be considered and the procedure which is to be 
followed are listed below: 


1. Monthly faculty meetings. 
September: no meeting. 
October: (a) demonstration lesson in arithmetic followed 
by (b) brief review of the scope of the rating plan as 
a whole and (c) practice in the selection of items in 
rating plan having an especial bearing on the demon- 
stration lesson and practice in the application of these 
items as instruments for the analysis of the “technique 
of teaching.” 


THE PLANNING OF SUPERVISION 101 


November: (a) Demonstration lesson in spelling followed 
by (6) a discussion of the general principles underly- 
ing the teaching of spelling, and (c) the presentation 
of a plan for the teaching of spelling devised to secure 
a more unified distribution of effort in the teaching of 
this subject throughout the school. 

December: (a) Consideration of the rating plan topic 
“Appearance of the Classroom,” and (b) reading and 
discussion of mimeographed list of practical sugges- 
tions for carrying out the principles listed in the rating 
plan. 

January: Consideration of rating plan topic “Lesson 
Planning” (aim, selection, and organization of subject 
matter), with the teaching of civics as the basis for 
discussion. 

2. Group Meetings: Group meetings by grades will be held 
as occasion arises. Those definitely anticipated at this 
time will be in the fifth and sixth grades in connection 
with the present arrangement of the children in the sixth 
grade into ability groups. 

3. Individual conferences: Individual conferences will follow 
observations of classroom work as needed. 


Regarding this plan, Adams says: 


This plan, while by no means complicated or especially original 
in its outline, indicates very clearly that the principal was con- 
scious of a definite need in his school and that he had thought 
through a program of professional activity for the half year. 
Items 2 and 3, while exceedingly brief, indicate probably the 
most vital part of the plan. 


As indicated in the quotation the statement of procedure 
in this plan could be elaborated. Nevertheless nearly all of 
the fundamental elements in supervisory planning are pres: 
ent, definite objectives growing out of a need in the school, 
clear statements of these objectives, a statement of the 
means by which the ends are to be attained. The plan lacks 
a definite statement of the eriteria by which its success 
would be judged. 

Another important element in such plans—flexibility— 


102 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


is indicated by a further discussion which is too long to 
quote here. The interest in and the attack upon the prob- 
lems of spelling at the November meeting were so vigorous 
that the teaching and supervision of spelling became a 
major topic and persisted throughout the year, side by 
side with the previously planned program. Such adapta- 
bility in the program, and in the group working with the 
program, is highly desirable. 

Another valuable discussion of planning for supervision 
by individual buildings is to be found in Chapter XXII of 
The Principal and His School by Cubberley and may be 
studied to advantage as a supplement to the above résumé 
of Adams’ article. 

Planning for small systems, for grade groups, or for 
special subjects. The foregoing samples from rural and 
from elementary building supervision illustrate practically 
all of the principles of planning. We may examine, 
however, a few sample plans constructed for some of 
the several supervisory units used in city supervision. 
Such plans are practically nonexistent in the profes- 
sional literature. Inquiries directed to hundreds of 
cities, large and small, throughout the country reveal 
an astonishing lack of definite planning. As _ stated 
earlier in the chapter, it would seem to be impossible to 
accomplish any real good or to make any professional ad- 
vancement without a definite, guiding program, understood 
alike by teachers and supervisors. Nevertheless, the fact is 
that a tremendous amount of supervision is proceeding on 
some basis other than that of careful planning. Sample 
plans have been very difficult to secure. The following 
quoted by Gray is the plan used by Miss Sarah M. Imboden, 
Elementary Supervisor of Decatur, Illinois, some years 
agos 2 


12 W. S. Gray, ‘‘ Methods of Improving the Technique of Teach- 
ing,’’ Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, December, 1919, pp. 263-75. 


THE PLANNING OF SUPERVISION 103 


Our major emphasis this year will be placed upon: 

1. Training pupils to study 

2. The socialized recitation 

3. The problem attack upon teaching 

Much good work along these lines has already been done, I 
am sure, by many of you. We need, however, to gather together 
our experiences through discussion, through conerete demonstra- 
tion lessons, and through grade and group meetings in order that 
all may profit to the maximum. 


The plan developed by the elementary department of the 
Oklahoma city schools, given below, is almost a perfect 
example of the form in which these plans should be organ- 
ized. Its content, perhaps, needs a little revision ; the means 
of achieving some of the objectives might be elaborated 
further ; and the discussion of checking the program refers 
only to one or two of the objectives and omits the others. 
The success of the program, however, was set forth in a 
report submitted by Miss Johnson to her board at the end 
of the year. This report will be found elsewhere in this 
volume (Chapter XIII). All in all, however, this is an 
excellent illustration of good supervisory planning. 


OKLAHOMA City, OKLAHOMA 


General Supervisory Plan, Elementary Department, for Second 
Semester, 1925 


I. Objectives 
A. Establishing a Junior First Grade to meet the needs 
of immature children who are not developed suffi- 
ciently to profit by the traditional first grade work. 

. Diagnosis of individual needs. 

. Remedial treatment. 

. Improvement of instruction. 

. Preparation of materials of instruction. 

. Project work clarified. 

. Encouraging teachers’ contributions to the improving 
of instruction. 


QymHvyaw 


104 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


II. Means of Achieving Above Objectives 


A. Children entering the first grade will be divided into 
three groups according to maturity. Such grouping 
will be based on two factors. 

1. The teachers’ judgments (both kindergarten and 
first grade). 
2. Score made on Binet-Simon Intelligence Test. 
For those immature children who are not sufficiently 
developed to profit by the traditional first grade 
work a Junior First Grade class will be formed. 
This class will be given developmental work and a 
broad foundation for the regular first grade train- 
ing. 
The school life of these children will be more eco- 
nomical and effective. 

B. Standardized tests and informal tests will be used and 
interpreted for diagnostic purposes. Special at- 
tention will be given to individual difficulties in 
reading and arithmetic in both the primary and 
intermediate grades. Teachers will be assisted in 
setting up an informal type of technique for diag- 
nosing difficulties in arithmetic in the primary 
grades, difficulties in geography and history in 
grades 4, 5, 6. 

C. Remedial treatment will be given for groups and for 
individuals to meet the needs revealed by the tests 
mentioned B. 

D. Improvement of instruction. 

1. Demonstration work for groups of teachers. 
2. Demonstration work in classroom for individual 
teachers. 

. Grade meetings. 

. Inter-grade meetings. 

. Teachers’ efforts directed through intelligent in. 

terpretation of tests. 

6. Classroom visitation and conferences’ with 

teachers. 

(. Directed observation of expert teaching. 

EK. Supervisor compiles a critical summary of available 
educational literature on each subject of the cur- 
riculum. “he aim of this work will be to create 
such an interest on the part of each teacher that 


Or H Co 


THE PLANNING OF SUPERVISION 105 


she will want to acquaint herself with the abundant 
literature pertaining to improved methods of teach- 
ing and experimental investigations. Supervisor 
will put out mimeographed outlines to every teacher 
of definite, specific ways of improving the instruc- 
tion of every subject of the curriculum. 

F. Bulletins, meetings, demonstrations. 

G. Dissemination of mimeographed copies of “Elementary 
Exchange” will make available to all teachers, prac- 
tices, devices, methods, found to be practical and 
successful by any teacher in the system. 

Teachers will be encouraged to contribute suggestions 
for the improvement of any school problem. For 
example, ideas relating to a new report card, which 
will be more satisfactory to both parents and teach- 
ers than the present form, will be asked. . 


III. Checks by Which Progress Is to Be Measured 


A. Standardized tests. 
B. Informal tests. 


A further illustration of worth while objectives for a 
supervisory program is supplied by Miss Jessie McLean, 
Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Saginaw, Michigan. 


My objectives for the year’s work embraced the following main 
items: 
I. A more democratic plan for teachers’ meetings, securing 
greater teacher-codperation 
II. Completion of health and kindergarten courses of study 
ITI. More helpful program for teachers’ conferences (indi- 
vidual conferences) 
IV. Extension of use of demonstration lessons 
V. More unified viewpoint in supervision from our “super- 
visory council” consisting of supervisor and supervis- 
ing principals 
VI. Reorganization of work in first grade 
VII. Better methods of studying results of tests to improve 
instruction 


Planning for large city systems. So far, all illustrations 
have been taken from small city systems or rural units. 


106 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Planning supervision in large cities proceeds upon exactly 
the same principles as elsewhere, but a total plan of super- 
vision cannot be illustrated effectively here, because of its 
complexity. The superintendent, the principal or the 
supervisor of each department or subject in a large city 
organization proceeds exactly as does his colleague in 
the smaller system to discover his problems, to set up his 
objectives, to work out ways and means of carrying a pro- 
gram forward. The complete plan in a large city is a co- 
ordinated program, utilizing the contributions of many 
specialists in many fields. The administrative background 
for such coordination has already been outlined in Chap- 
ter IT. 

Checking or testing the supervisory program. Before 
proceeding to summarize the steps in planning, one element 
in the process which is not illustrated very well by any of 
the samples given, although it is clearly indicated in the 
preceding discussion, should be emphasized. In addition 
to selecting objectives and devising an attack upon them, 
the supervisor must also prepare a series of checks, tests, or 
eriteria by which the success of the plan is measured. These 
checks should be stated in outline form in the plan itself. 
Each set of checks will, of course, be determined by the 
nature of the specific objective to be judged. 

In some eases a testing program will be the proper check. 
Further discussion of this use of tests can be found in 
Chapter IX. In other cases a summary of expert opinion 
might be the only means available. In still others success, 
or the lack of it, in the attainment of proposed aims, will 
be checked or measured by the appearance or nonappear- 
ance of certain objective evidence, such as printed courses 
of study or manuals, a printed rating scale, the organiza- 
tion of a Parent Teacher Association, the percentage of 
teachers enrolled in extension classes, ete. Evidence of 
success, or the reverse, may also be found by scrutinizing 


THE PLANNING OF SUPERVISION 107 


the records of supervisory activity which should be kept by 
all supervisors. It may be found also in their written com- 
munications, bulletins, ete. 

We may quote again from Adams’ excellent article: *° 


To accomplish [his aim] the principal must plan his profes- 
sional work for the school with the greatest of care. It is not 
sufficient to permit the incident of the moment to determine the 
line of activity to be pursued by the principal in his teacher- 
training program. It mast be a program developed in the lght 
of experience and growing out of an intimate knowledge of the 
teachers and their problems. It must be checked and safeguarded 
as thoroughly as possible. Because of the importance of the 
work to be done, a definite system of checks must be developed. 
The superintendent desiring quickly to place his finger on the 
points of weakness in his system and also desiring to render 
most certain service to his principals, and through them to his 
teachers will find the plan of requiring a definite professional 
program at the beginning of each term or year, one of the surest 
means of controlling this important and difficult situation. 


The steps in planning supervision. Plans and codrdina- 
tion between plans will, of course, differ with the size of the 
system and the organization of supervision in vogue. 
Whether the plan be that of a superintendent, a general 
supervisor, a departmental supervisor, or a building prin- 
cipal, it will possess the three following elements: 


1. A set of clearly stated, definite, objectives 

2. A clear-cut outline of the means, devices, and procedures, 
to be utilized in the attainment of these ends 

3. A clear-cut outline of the criteria, checks, or tests to be 
applied to the results of supervision, in order to de- 
termine the success or failure of the program 


The objectives should be selected in terms of an actual 
situation. They may be determined by the superintendent, 
by the supervisor and teachers, by the building principal, 
or by a supervisory council. In discovering objectives, a 


13 KE, A. Adams, op. ctt., p. 741. 


108 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


careful study of the situation is necessary. This study may 
be carried on in any of several ways. The list below is 
suggestive of the methods available and is not to be regarded 
as complete. Objectives may be discovered by means of: 


. A series of visits and conferences 

. A testing survey 

. An analysis of the records of the system 

. Teacher participation and suggestion 

. Experimentation with the introduction of new methods or 
materials 


or WN EH 


From the list of possible objectives a few of the most 
urgent and practicable should be selected for attention. 
No rule can be laid down as to the number to be included 
in any one program. The specific situation must determine 
this point. Cubberley suggests that two are sufficient; 
Pittman feels that four may be attacked successfully; 
the writer knows of one situation in which eight fairly 
extensive aims were accomplished within a year. In 
the main, the number should be kept small. In this way, 
effort is not extended over too large a field, and provision 
is made for flexibility in the program. 

With the objectives settled, the next task is the organiza- 
tion of the step-by-step progress toward their attainment 
The methods used are, of course, more or less clearly indi 
cated by the objectives themselves. A partial listing of 
means available includes the following: 


1. A series of organized and controlled teachers’ meetings 

2. Organized classroom visiting, either on schedule or on eall 

3. Demonstration teaching, directed observation, and directed 
teaching 

4. Directing teachers to reading circle work, to extension 
classes, and to summer school work 

5. Training teachers to use and interpret tests 

6. Planning remedial teaching on the basis of diagnostic test- 
ing . 

7. Experimental work and research 


THE PLANNING OF SUPERVISION 109 


8. Organizing committees for research, curriculum revision, 
ete. 
9. Supplying materials of instruction in sufficient quantities 
10. Using school papers and local newspapers in a propaganda 
campaign 
Many other means are to be found, in fact the entire 
range of supervisory activity is at the disposal of the super- 
visor. 
Provision must be made for flexibility in the program. 
This may be done in either or both of two ways: 


1. Keep the program simple and brief. 
2. Invite considerable teacher participation. 


If the program is simple, unavoidable changes will not 
disturb too many interrelated activities. If teachers have 
participated in planning the program, they understand it 
more clearly, and can therefore adjust to changes without 
confusion. : 

In the final analysis, perhaps, flexibility is a matter of 
the temperament and method of thought of those handling 
the plan. If this is so, an important factor of success is the 
selection and training of the supervisory staff. This factor 
is discussed in Chapter XIV. The building of esprit de 
corps, loyalty, and enthusiasm are also indirect means of 
providing such a situation and background that needed 
changes can be made in the plan, thus securing the neces- 
sary flexibility. 

Summary. The chief reasons for planning supervision 
seem to be: 


1. A planned program insures that the supervisor has thought 
his situation through, analyzed it, and selected for atten- 
tion the weak spots or new needs. 

2. A planned program insures a definite organization of pro- 

; fessional activity directed toward the achievement of cer- 
tain definite objectives. It tends thus to displace mere 
routine visitation and inspection, vague and general 
supervision. 


110 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


3. A planned program is a source of professional stimulation 
to all concerned. 

4. Definite programs constructed by all supervisors make for 
easier coordination of the work of all. 

5. Planned programs give the administrative officers, the school 
board, or other lay observers a definite idea of the work 
being attempted. It gives them also a basis for judging 
and evaluating supervision. 

6. A planned program is an excellent test of the ability of the 
supervisory staff. 


A good supervisory plan will possess the three following 
elements : 


1. A set of clearly stated definite objectives 

2. A clear-cut outline of the means, devices, and procedures 
to be utilized in attaining these objectives 

3. A clear-cut outline of the eriteria, checks, or tests to be 
applied to the results of supervision in order to determine 
the success or failure of the program 


The important steps in constructing supervisory plans 
would then seem to be: 


1. Study or survey the situation by any available and suitable 
means, in order to determine the needs of the system or 
building. 

2. Construct a total list of needs, problems, defects, or new 
departures which may be made into definite objectives. 

3. Select from this list a small number of these problems, and 
state them definitely as the objectives for the term or 
year. 

4, Outline for each objective the specifie and detailed pro- 
cedures which will be utilized in achieving the ends sought. 
Provide for flexibility. 

5. Outline clearly the criteria, tests, or checks which ean be 
used fairly to determine the success or failure of the 
plan at the close of the period for which it was con- 
structed. 

6. Publish this plan in printed, mimeographed, or typewritten 
form. Place it in the hands of teachers, supervisors, 
principals; and if necessary, devote a general meeting to 
explanation and discussion. (The extent to which teachers 


On 


10. 


a1, 


THE PLANNING OF SUPERVISION 111 


participated in constructing the plan in the first place 
would determine, in some measure, the course to be fol- 
lowed. ) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


. ApAMs, E. A., “The Principals’ Programme of Professional 


Activities,’ Elementary School Journal, Vol. 23, June, 
1923, pp. 733 ff. One of the best discussions. 


. Baxer, G. M., “Supervision in Fayette County, Kentucky,” 


School Board Journal, Vol. 67, July, 1923, p. 45. For 
rural supervisors, good, concrete, brief. 


. Bonser, F. G., Introduction to Prrrman, M. S., The Value 


of School Supervision (Warwick and York, 1921). 


. Corrman, L. D., “The Control of School Progress through 


School Supervision,” Proceedings of the National Edueca- 
tion Association, Vol. 55, 1917, pp. 187-94. 


. Coox, A. S.; Simpson, I. J., and Heauey, K. L., “A Year’s 


Supervision of Elementary Instruction in Caroline 
County,” Maryland School Bulletin, Vol. 6, Jan., 1925. An 
excelent account. Others similar have been published by 
the Maryland State Department. 


. CUBBERLEY, E. P., The Principal and His School (Houghton 


Mifflin Co., 1923), pp. 50 ff., also Chap. XXII. 


. Foorr, J. M., “A State Programme of Instructional Super- 


vision,” Journal of Rural Education, Vol. 1, April, 1922, 
pp. 337-41; also in Proceedings of the National Education 
Association, Vol. 60, 1922, pp. 1149-54; also in Journai 
of the National Education Association, Vol. 11, April, 1922, 
p. 130. 


. Gray, W. S., “Methods of Improving the Technique of 


Teaching,” Hlementary School Journal, Vol. 20, Dee., 1919, 
pp. 263-75. 


. Gray, Olive, “Supervision as Joint State and Local Under- 


taking,” Hlementary School Journal, Vol. 23, March, 1923, 
pp. 504 ff. Excellent. 

Hatt, H. E., “A District Program of Supervision,” Journal 
of Educational Method, Vol. 3, June, 1924, p. 442. Ex- 
cellent. 

MAXwELL, C. R., “Effective Supervision,” School and So- 
ciety, Vol. 11, Feb. 21, 1920, pp. 214-17. 


. McCutioven, A. M., “The Technique of Supervision in the 


112 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


EY. 


18. 


18} 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Small City,” School Board Journal, Vol. 67, Sept., 1923, 
yy Sy cote) 

Minor, Ruby, “Making the Course of Study,” Elementary 
School Journal, Vol. 22, May, 1922, pp. 655 ff. Good plan. 

Pirrman, M. 8., The Value of School Supervision (Warwick 
and York, 1921). Presents the zone plan of rural super- 
vision. 

Power, Leonard, “A Plan for the Supervision of Instruc- 
tion by Principals of Elementary Schools,’ Elementary 
School Journal, Vol. 19, Feb., 1919, pp. 408-18. 

Rupy, Ida O., “My First Year,’ Journal of Educational 
Method, Vol. 3, Nov., 1923, pp. 128 ff. 

Simpson, I. Jewell, “What Functions of a State Superin- 
tendent of Rural Schools Are Worth While?” Proceedings 
of the National Education Association, Vol. 62, 1924, pp. 
680-85. 

THEISEN, W. W., “A Ways-and-Means Programme of Su- 
pervision,” School Board Journal, Vol. 69, Oct., 1924, pp. 
43-45. Concrete. 

Yawserc, A. G., “Part of the County Superintendent in 
Rural School Supervision,” Proceedings of the National 
Edueation Association, Vol. 61, 1923, pp. 772-79. 


CHAPTER V 
STUDYING THE WORK OF THE TEACHER 


‘*And so that was the first time you ever taught! Well, 
you very nearly accomplished a remarkable thing, nearly, 
but not quite, not quite. In your twenty-minute reading 
period, you very nearly included all the possible errors of 
procedure which it is possible to make!’’ Thus spoke the 
director of a training school to a trembling neophyte who 
had just taught for the first time. ‘Che twinkling eyes and 
friendly smile belied the severity of the words. In the en- 
suing conference the young teacher learned, so thoroughly 
that he never forgot, how a trained observer studies a 
teacher at work. A teacher says or does certain definite, 
observable things which indicate to a competent observer 
that the teaching is good, or that it is poor, or that it is 
indifferent. What are these things? 

Before answering the last question, let us digress a mo- 
ment in order to point out the seriousness of the problem 
involved. Teaching is, and always has been, hard to judge. 
Observers have not agreed in advance concerning their ob- 
jectives, what to look for; they have differed in their ter- 
minology ; and their judgments as well as their terminology 
have been, generally speaking, subjective. To use an an- 
cient and honored, but wholly erroneous phrase, ‘‘one man’s 
opinion has been as good as another’s.’’ The whole situa- 
tion has been a serious handicap to the improvement of 
teaching. 

Study the teacher at work to get the facts. The pri- 
mary function of supervision is the improvement of teach- 
ing through teacher growth. Before any considerable 

143 


114. THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


assistance can be given by supervisors in creating better 
conditions of learning and in helping teachers to do their 
work more effectively, careful attention must be given to 
the study of the teacher at work. One of the chief eriti- 
cisms which has been directed against supervision, in the 
past, is that supervisors very often do not know the facts. 
Teachers have complained bitterly about the advice they 
have received, and have deplored judgments made upon the 
basis of a hasty and superficial examination of the situation. 
Even when commendation and constructive advice are 
given, their effect is largely lost if the teacher feels that the 
supervisor is speaking without sufficient knowledge of the 
case in point. 

Before making decisions or giving advice, the supervisor 
must know the facts and be able to present objective evi- 
dence in support of his views. It is not enough to know, in 
general, that something is wrong, or to know, in a general 
way, that things are moving along smoothly. A physician 
who depended upon general symptoms and general reme- 
dies would blunder seriously in many of his diagnoses. If 
a department of cost accounting proceeded upon such a 
basis, the factory would be in a bankruptcy court very 
shortly. In the two examples cited, exact and specific facts 
are at a premium and no effort is spared to get them. The 
facts to be obtained in education cannot, of course, be as 
exact as those obtainable in the illustrations just given. 
However, no effort should be spared to get precise and ac- 
curate details. The supervisor must study the teacher and 
the teaching carefully and minutely in order to be genu- 
inely helpful. It goes without saying that advice to teach- 
ers and programs of remedial or improvement work must 
grow out of a knowledge of the situation at hand. This we 
will call diagnostic supervision. 

Facts often difficult to get. In order to get facts, it is 
obvious that ample time must be allowed for observing and 


STUDYING THE TEACHER 115 


studying classroom work. Without such time allowance, the 
supervisor is seriously handicapped at the very outset. On 
the other hand, the difficulty in getting facts is not always 
due to a lack of time. In a few eases, the difficulty lies in 
an inability to see the facts when presented, in an inability 
to analyze a recitation as it proceeds. The correct analysis 
of a recitation demands a peculiar skill on the part of the 
supervisor. Some people have what we may call a ‘‘peda- 
gogical bent,’’ and are able to recognize elements of strength 
and weakness in teaching almost instinctively. For the 
most part, however, supervisors and teachers must be 
trained for this work. Through study, observation, ana- 
lytical discussion, and the like, the supervisor must acquire 
the ability to recognize quickly and easily the specific things 
which connote good and bad teaching. 

A greater difficulty, perhaps, is the fact that supervision 
has lacked until very recently the instruments for reliable 
analysis. Analysis has been carried on largely in terms of 
individual opinions. The highly subjective nature of the 
terms used has stood in the way of progress. With the de- 
velopment of more objective means the task becomes pro- 
oressively easier. 

A third difficulty is the fact that even though we have 
more or less objective instruments and methods, it is still 
difficult to be exact and precise. The objectivity of the 
terms used has been of great assistance, but we have not 
yet reduced these objective statements to mathematical pre- 
cision. Possibly this cannot be done. | 

Methods of securing’ objective data. Concerning two 
methods of studying the work of the teacher which have 
attained wide recognition, we may quote from Breuckner: * 


One device that is used extensively is the standardized test, 
1L. J. Breuckner, ‘‘The Value of a Time Analysis of Classroom 


Activity as a Supervisory Technique,’’ Elementary School Journal, 
Vol. 25, No. 7, March, 1925, pp. 518-21. 


116 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


by means of which a teacher can readily evaluate her work in 
teaching certain of the basic skills, such as those in arithmetic, 
spelling, and reading. The results of standardized tests are also 
helpful to general administrative and supervisory officers, since 
they reveal weak or strong points and thus make it possible to 
give special attention where pronounced weaknesses are found. 
The objective measurement of classroom products is absolutely 
essential in any intelligent evaluation of the results of teaching. 

Another technique is the evaluation of class work by means 
of a careful analysis of the activities of both pupils and teachers. 
The pioneer studies in this field were the investigation by Miss 
Romiett Stevens of the relation between the number of questions 
asked and the efficiency of the recitation, and the study by 
Ernest Horn of the variation in pupil participation in class 
work. Their techniques are being elaborated and expanded and 
are used by many competent supervisors. The method by which 
pupil and teacher activities are analyzed is valuable, since an 
analysis of modern educational philosophy shows that stress 
is placed upon the vital importance of well-motivated pupil 
activity in the learning process. 


The first device mentioned, standard tests, will be dis- 
eussed at length in Chapter IX, and may therefore be dis- 
missed without further attention here. 

The activity analysis. What is an activity analysis? 
It is an analysis of what does, might, could, should, happen 
in a lesson. It is a statement, in as exact terms as possible, 
of small items of actually observable behavior on the part 
of the teacher or the pupil. In addition to analyzing activi- 
ties we must also similarly analyze material surroundings 
and conditions of learning. The more exact these state- 
ments can be made the more universally serviceable will © 
they be. 

What use can be made of the activity analysis? In 
studying the work of the teacher at first hand, that is, in the 
recitation, we cannot observe carefully everything that hap- 
pens. The time allowed for observation and for conferring 
with the teacher are both sharply limited. The supervisor’s 
skill will be shown by his ability to select for discussion with — 


STUDYING THE TEACHER 117 


the teacher the most important, major elements of strength 
and weakness in the lesson. He should be aware of, and 
with practice become sensitive to, many factors other than 
those selected for attention. When any of the minor factors 
need serious attention, they should be noted and taken up 
as opportunity presents itself. 

Since all phases of the recitation cannot be covered each 
time, and furthermore since it is possible to keep in mind 
only a limited number of observable points concerning the 
items which are to be studied, it is well to have some device 
for guiding and organizing observation. Such a device is 
to be found in the ‘‘check-list,’’ ‘‘observation outline,’’ or 
‘‘items to observe.’’ These lists and outlines have been 
devised by supervisors, In numerous situations, to cover 
various lesson types, general and special method procedures, 
the physical conditions surrounding learning, ete. The 
items included, as stated above, are specific pupil or teacher 
activities which may be observed during the period. Such 
a listing of actual observable items avoids the difficulty 
which arises when teaching is discussed in subjective terms. 
Listing or checking the activities observed in a lesson does 
not in itself evaluate the teaching. Such a procedure sup- 
plies the data from which the situation may be studied and 
evaluations made. We cannot observe the process of learn- 
Ing as it goes on, since it consists of changes made within 
the learner, but we can observe certain activities which are 
known to connote or are supposed to connote learning or 
interference with learning. | 

Outline summaries or check lists are available in several 
places. In Supervision and the Improvement of Teaching, 
Burton? has presented a series of outlines organized in 
terms of the general types of teaching. Each outline is in 


2W. H. Burton, Supervision and the Improvement of Teaching 
(D. Appleton and Company, 1922), pp. 49, 92, 130, 150, 169, 183, 
209, 228, 253. 


118 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


two forms, one for teacher activity, the other for pupil ac- 
tivity. Another list of summary statements and rules which 
ean be used as check lists is to be found in the Highteenth 
Yearbook, Part II,* National Society for the Study of Edu- 
eation. This collection supplements the first one named 
since it is outlined in terms of the fundamental subjects 
instead of general method. Probably the most complete 
list, one covering both subject matter and method is to 
be found in Elementary School Standards for the Improve- 
ment of Teaching, by Barr and others.* Several excellent 
samples are to be found in Visiting the Teacher at Work, 
Anderson, Barr, and Bush.’ Many isolated examples are 
to be found in the periodical literature. The present dis- 
eussion will, therefore, be sharply abbreviated, presenting 
only such examples as make clear the chief point of this 
ehapter, namely, that teaching must be studied by means 
of careful observation of actual occurrences in the class- 
room. 

How to use the activity analysis. Most supervisors do 
not believe that these check lists should be earried into the 
classroom. The list should not be spread out before the 
supervisor and checked as the teaching proceeds. This 
would be very embarrassing and disconcerting to the ordi- 
nary teacher. Most teachers would object strenuously. On 
the other hand, it is to be noted that some authorities advo- 
cate training the teachers to allow the supervisor to use the 
lists while the teaching is going on. This group maintains 
that the conerete evidence furnished by checking during 
performance is necessary for the conference which is to fol- 
low. They assert that teachers should rise to the scientific 





3 Highteenth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of 
Education, Part II (Public School Publishing Co., 1919). 

4A.8S. Barr and others, Elementary School Standards for the Im- 
provement of Teaching (Edwards Brothers, 1925). 
. 5 Anderson, Barr, and Bush, Visiting the Teacher at Work (D. 
Appleton & Co., 1925), pp. 11, 22-35. 


STUDYING THE TEACHER 119 


attitude necessary for such procedure. It is, of course, true 
that such immediate and direct analysis would materially 
aid in the improvement of teaching. However, i¢ will doubt- 
less be unwise to attempt such direct methods until the 
levels of teacher training have risen sufficiently to permit a 
more impersonal and scientific attitude than now exists. 
In any ease, the supervisor should study the list and select 
definitely, before entering the room, the items he wishes to 
note. The outlines should be checked, or notes made, with- 
out fail immediately after the observation. A supervisor 
who trusts too much to his memory will probably get poor 
results. 

The check list devices are not for the use of the super- 
visor alone. One of the aims of good supervision is the 
stimulation of self-study, self-analysis, self-evaluation, and 
self-improvement on the part of teachers. The outlines 
should therefore be of assistance to teachers if made avail- 
able to them. 

A general scheme for gathering data. The following 
useful outline is recommended in Visiting the Teacher at 
Work:°® 


I. The Lesson as a Whole 

1. What is the teacher’s general plan? 

2. What is the teacher’s immediate purpose? 

3. How does the subject matter of the lesson fit into 
both? 

4. Is the subject matter in harmony with the course of 
study? 

5. Does the subject matter meet pupils’ present and 
probable life needs? 

6. Does the lesson foster right methods of study by the 
pupils? 

7 Do pupils know what is expected of them in pre- 
paring the lesson? 


i 


6 Ibid., pp. 11-12. 


120 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


II. The Data Furnished to the Pupils 


is 
2. 


3. 


4, 


‘Are the pupils dependent upon a single textbook? 


Are maps, globe, pictures, blackboard, ete., utilized 
by the pupils? 

Are reference books and supplementary texts used as 
sources by the pupils? 

Are comparisons made and illustrations drawn from 
the pupils’ experiences? 


III. The Procedure 


4, 


5. 
6. 


7 


1. What is the general type to which the lesson belongs? 
ys. 
3. Are the children working consciously toward a known 


Is the lesson suited to the aim and to the materials? 


goal? 

Should the teacher have modified her plan during the 
lesson instead of holding to it? 

What laws of learning are obeyed? Disobeyed? 

Are the children using right and wrong methods of 
study ? 

Who is doing the purposing, the planning, the or- 
ganizing, and the judging of values? 


IV. Possible Elements of Strength in Any Lesson. Nearly every 
lesson has some worthy features. Among these are the 
following: 


Te 


2. 


All of the pupils were stimulated to do at least one 
thing well. 

The text was used to furnish data for the solution of 
a problem and for establishing effective methods of 
thinking. 


. The children were taught at least one good method of 


gathering data. 


. The lesson brought out clearly the danger of too 


hasty conclusions based upon too meager evidence. 


. The lesson brought pupils to see the value of supple- 


menting the text from experience. 


. A worthwhile problem was solved and valuable data 


was made available for further use. 


. Children learned to understand and appreciate some 


one hitherto unknown truth. 


. New beauties in nature, in literature, or in art were 


realized by pupils. 


9. 


10. 


LL: 


STUDYING THE TEACHER 121 


New skills were acquired or old skills perfected dur- 
ing this period. 

A problem was raised which stimulated desire for 
continued study. 

The pupils raised questions or problems which led to 
further study. 


V. Some Elements of Weakness Often Present in Lessons 
Some of the common faults observed in recitations are 
listed by way of suggesting the type of analysis that 
should be made. 


dt 


Or i oo 


iif: 


12. 


The teacher utilized the wrong lesson activity; that 
is, she taught a development lesson when her class 
was ready for a practice lesson or perhaps for a 
review lesson; or she gave a review of a topic when 
practice or drill was needed. 


. Memory was the chief ability required to succeed in 


the recitation. 


. The teacher did the organizing for the pupils. 
. One or two pupils did all the talking. 
. The subject matter was treated as if all the facts were 


of equal importance. 


. In trying to meet individual needs the teacher neg- 


lected the majority of the class. 


. Only one pupil at a time responded in a test lesson 


when by a change of device all could have re- 
sponded; or, by substituting a socialized activity 
for a question and answer type of lesson, a much 
more general participation could have been secured. 


. The teacher passed judgment as to the correctness of 


statements, thus robbing the pupils of the privilege 
of judging, and hence, making learning less sure. 


. The real subject matter of the lesson lay outside of 


the text and was not touched upon. 


. The pupils were not the actors; they were chiefly acted 


upon by the teacher. 

There was little or no problem solving, hence, little 
or no thinking. 

Up-to-date methods of teaching were seemingly un- 
known to the teacher, such as diagnosis before 
drill, individual practice to meet individual needs, 
and so forth. 


122 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


13. The methods of study of the pupils were not taken 
into account nor fostered by the lesson plan. 

14. No questions were asked by these pupils. Pupils who 
are really thinking ask questions. 


Not all of these questions will need to be answered defi- 
nitely about every lesson, but each suggests certain ele- 
ments that make for skill or for the lack of it. The scheme 
is a general one and its uses are obvious. It will serve as a 
preliminary to more intensive examination or as a device to 
use on the supervisor’s first round of visitation. In many 
instances it will be necessary to carry the analysis and diag- 
nosis down to a more minute examination of some special 
phase of the teacher’s work; in that case check-lists and 
outlines elaborated to cover minutely some specific thing 
will be necessary. We may next examine some samples of 
such outlines. 

Samples of specialized outlines and, check lists. Routine 
matters of management. Some teachers may need to have 
their attention called to certain very simple, but often neg- 
lected factors in classroom management. <A set of questions 
such as the following could be used as a basis for discus- 
sion 74 


I. The Organization of the Room for Work 
1. Attention to physical conditions 
(a) Are the pupils seated so that they get the best 
hght available? 
(b) Are the pupils seated by size and grade so as to 
make advantageous use of the seats available? 
(c) Are such devices as are available utilized to pro- 
vide an abundance of fresh air? 
(d) Is the heat of the room maintained at an even 
and comfortable temperature? 
2. The handling of materials 
(a) Is there an orderly routine for the passing and 
collecting of supplies or materials? 





7 Anderson, Barr, and Bush, op. cit., pp. 22-23. 


STUDYING THE TEACHER 123 


(b) Are suggestive materials, drawings, maps, charts, 
encyclopedias, reference books, ete., in evidence? 

(c) Can the drawings, maps, blackboard illustrations, 
etc., be clearly seen by the pupils? 

(d) Are reference books, dictionaries, maps, etc., con- 
veniently placed? 

(e) Are laboratory materials not included in (b), (c), 
and (d) conveniently placed? 

(f) Are materials to be used during the class period 
on hand and ready for use before the class 
period begins? 


3. Other evidence of the economy of time in classroom man- 
agement 


(a) Does the teacher begin the class work on time? 

(b) Does the teacher waste time in attempting to find 
various articles about her desk, the place in the 
book, ete.? 

(c) Does the teacher check absences and tardinesses 
with a minimum loss of time? 

(d@) Does the teacher avoid writing long lists of prob- 
lems, words, paragraphs, ete., on the blackboard 
during the recitation period? 

(e) Does the class waste time because materials, books, 
supplies, or equipment are inconveniently 
placed ? 

(f) Does the teacher waste time in dictating outlines, 
lists of references, ete., that might have been 
supplied in mimeographed form or placed on 
the blackboard prior to the recitation period? 

(9) Does the teacher waste time by explaining to the 
entire class the difficulties of a few pupils? 

(h) Does the teacher waste time in discussions and 
questions that are of interest only to the indi- 
vidual answering? 

(i) Does the teacher waste time by allowing rapid 
workers to wait for slower pupils? 

(j) Does the teacher waste time by making the class 
period mere recitation of work done out of 
class? 

(k) Does the teacher waste time by giving inadequate 


124 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


directions regarding the work to be done out of 
class? 


The foregoing list could be elaborated, changed, or abbre- 
viated. Other similar lists are available in the professional 
literature, and supervisors should make out their own lists 
in terms of local situation. 

Outline for a drill lesson. Again attention may be di- 
rected to the teacher’s efficiency in carrying on some of the 
learning processes. The following outline for observing a 
drill lesson illustrates very briefly the type of material to 
be used : ® 


GENERAL QUESTIONS 


(a) Are the associations or skills being drilled upon valuable 
enough to justify making them automatic? 

(b) Is the sum total of the teacher’s efforts toward the intelli- 
gent selection of associations and skills and the inde- 
pendent automatizing of them by the pupil in the 
future? 


APPLICATION OF DRILL PRINCIPLES 


1. A correct start followed by correct practice must be in- 
sured. Speed must wait upon accuracy. 


(a) Is the teacher alert to see that all have the correct 
response or reaction before starting drill? 

(b) Is she patient in securing accuracy from all, rather 
than a high speed from a few? 


2. Zeal, interest, and concentration of attention must be se- 
cured and maintained. 


(a) Is there an aim stated, as in the teaching lessons? 
(This is often not present, but where possible an 
aim should be set up based upon the intrinsie worth 


of the material or upon such instinctive interest as 
fits the case.) 


8 W. H. Burton, op. cit., pp. 169-72. 


STUDYING THE TEACHER 125 


(b) Is interest initiated and maintained, either by this 
aim, or by other legitimate means? 

(c) Is the teacher quick to note flagging of attention? 
Does she change games and devices? Avoid dead- 
ening repetition? 

(ad) Is she using many simple devices such as games and 
plays; more pretentious devices such as group con- 
tests, exhibitions, independent work, etc.? 


3. Feelings of satisfaction and dissatisfaction must be con- 
sidered, as they vitally condition the results of a drill 
lesson. 


(a) Is there regard for the principle of individual dif- 
ferences so that the slow ones are not dissatisfied 
because of comparison with the faster ones? Are 
pupils grouped where possible? Do they compete 
with their own records? 

(b) Are handicap games and contests used to give every- 
one a chance to show progress and success? 

(c) Is the teacher using diagnostic tests in order to 
determine the nature and amount of drill neces- 
sary? 


4, Avoid waste of time on accessory and nonessential processes. 


(a) Is the teacher making use of ready-made, scientifi- 
eally constructed drill systems, sheets of problems, 
flash cards, games, completion tests, ete.? Failing 
these, is she constructing her own, modeled after 
the ready-made systems? 

(b) Is she avoiding the use of the blackboard for long 
lists of problems, words, paragraphs, ete.? Does 
she avoid having the pupils copy such things pre- 
liminary to the real drill? 

(c) Is she using a well-organized routine for the handling 
of such material as is indispensable? For ealling 
on pupils or the group? For moving them to the 
board, about the room, ete.? 

(d) Is the use of books, references, vocabularies, notes, 

'  ete., necessary in some drills, well routinized? 

(e) Is she avoiding drill upon processes already learned 


126 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


by the pupils? Upon errors not present in the 
group? Upon skills of little use to the group? 


5. The facts drilled upon in games and devices must be applied 
to and used in real situations. 

(a) Is the teacher making sufficient and intelligent use 
of clothed problems, new completion tests, other 
books, real-life situations, ete., in which the new 
associations and skills are put to use in an appro- 
priate setting? 


6. The drill periods should be short and distributed over a 
considerable length of time. 


(a) Are the drill periods approximating in length the 
time which has been found experimentally to be 
the best for the particular subject? 

(b) Is the distribution of these periods through the day, 
week, or other interval in accord with the needs 
of the situation? 

(c) Is the teacher using the standard score that accom- 
panies most of the ready-made drill systems to de- 
termine the amount of drill necessary? To de- 
termine individual differences? To stimulate work? 
As a basis of comparison? 

(d) Is the teacher tapering drill off as the students ap- 
proach the standard score, or is she ending it 
abruptly? Is she checking from time to time in 
order to determine retention? 


7. In memorizing meaningful material there should be an 
analysis of the thought content first. The method of cor- 
rect recall should be used; the “whole” instead of the 
“nart” method. 


(a) Is the analysis of thought skillfully introduced? Sep- 
arately or as part of the lesson? 

(6) Is the teacher explaining to the pupils the method 
of correct recall and stimulating its use? 

(c) Is she stimulating learning by the “whole” method? 
Is she breaking too long selections into thought 
units? Training the pupils to make such divisions? 


STUDYING THE TEACHER 127 


Observing the teacher’s reaction to individual differences. 
It may be desirable at times to carry the study down to even 
smaller units than a lesson type. It may be necessary to 
eall the special attention of the teacher to the various 
methods of adapting the work to the different levels in her 
group. 


INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2 


1. Does the general attitude of the teacher in questioning, il- 
lustrating, helping, and disciplining indicate that she 
knows what individual differences are? 

2. In disposing of particular instances does she indicate that 
she understands the difference between children per- 
manently backward through inherited defect and those 
temporarily backward because of absence, sickness, poor 
teaching, ete.? 

3. Does she make use of, or call for the use of, standard 
educational measurements and mental tests in order to 
determine the nature and amount of the differences? 

4. Is there plainly a minimum essentials requirement for all 
pupils; supplementary work or other provision for the 
bright pupil; and some system of supervised study or 
outside help for slow pupils? 

5. Is she in favor of, and will she codperate in, administrative 
schemes for individual and irregular promotion? 


The time-actwity analysis. A clever combination of the 
activity analysis with the time element has been made by 
Breuckner. He analyzed the classroom activity into cer- 
tain major types of procedure, and then studied the number 
of minutes devoted to each in several grades. The follow- 
ing table from his article illustrates the procedure.° 


'-9W. H. Burton, op. cit., pp. 90-91. 

10, J. Breuckner, ‘‘The Value of a Time Analysis of Classroom 
Activity as a Supervisory Technique,’’ Elementary School Journal, 
March, 1925, Vol. 25, pp. 518-21. 


128 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


AVERAGE NuMBER OF MINUTES A WEEK DervoTep To Various 
READING ACTIVITIES IN GRADES I to IV IN SEvEN MINNE- 
APOLIS SCHOOLS 


Tyrpr oF ACTIVITY 


1. Pure phonetic drill to develop independ- 
ence in word recognition............ 63 62 19 2 

2. Word drills connected with daily read- 

ing work for meaning and pronuncia- 


TION oi tee ea Le Ca hae eae ne te 34 51 30 30 

3. Oral reading; books, blackboards, cards, 
CLOL Te ie ies 0) semen acetate eens 112 | 45 43 | 34 

4, Flash-card drills to develop silent-read- 
Ing ability SAN eieg wee Cree 28 6 17 32 
5. Directed silent reading..,.....5.....: 62 | 118 83 | 109 
6. Combination of oral and silent reading..| 20 35 32 24 
7. Undirected free silent reading......... 66 58 41 10 
8. Illustration and handwork............ 69 32 27 13 
9... DramatiZalion.ssi.. miueo aliens 6 lice aes 16 12 26 18 

10. Oral language based on reading lesson 
during reading period.........:..... 40 10 22 23 

11. Written language work based on reading 
lesson during reading period......... 0 15 56 10 

12. Use of arithmetic, geography, etc., ma- 
terial during reading period......... 12 0 1 16 
13. Attention to needs of individual pupils..}| 35 36 45 21 
14, Tests, formal and informal............ 15 5 12 8 

LD Other. arc ahiade te ome oti frie ak Shee 


—_ -———_ | —————- | | 


572 | 485 | 454 | 350 





Breuckner points out that this is, of course, a beginning 
study. No one knows which of the above activities should 
receive the most time. This study merely shows the amount 
of time actually devoted to each of them. It also shows. , 
inerease or decrease of time through the four grades of 

erratic fluctuation. Obviously the study is very suggestive,. 
and further research in this field will be of valuable assist- 
ance in improving teaching. | 


STUDYING THE TEACHER 129 


Studying the pupils. It is an accepted principle of 
pedagogy that a teacher must know as much as possible 
about her pupils in order to be able to teach them. The 
native ability and temperament of the pupil, his home en- 
vironment, social and economic status, health record, and 
the like, all vitally affect teaching. It is essential that the 
supervisor also be informed on these points so that his diag- 
nosis may be based upon a consideration of all the facts in 
the case. School records are now kept, in most progressive 
districts at least, so that much of this information is imme- 
diately available in the school register and_ records. 
Whether the population of a building is largely homo- 
geneous, or somewhat stratified, the supervisor must learn, 
as part of his constant background, as much as he ean 
concerning such things. 

It is usually best to have at hand a simple outline of the 
information needed concerning the personnel of the class. 
The following list summarizes very briefly some of the 
salient points to be considered : 1 


1. Note the pupils’ general intelligence or ability to learn. 
If scores from intelligence tests are not available, the 
information can usually be obtained through a series of 
informal exercises. 

2. Note evidences of individual levels of achievement and 
knowledge of subject matter. Two sources of information 
are available—scores on educational tests and _ school 
marks, 

3. Note special learning abilities, such as command of Eng- 
lish, general reading ability, ability to use the tools of 
learning readily, ete. 

4, Note previous experience with the subject matter in the 
environment of school and of home. 

5. Note special language difficulties, such as may appear in 
foreign communities. 

6. Note home conditions and home factors affecting learning. 


11 Anderson, Barr, and Bush, op. cit., p. 7. 


130 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


7. Note items of health, such as absences because of illness, 
physical defects, ete. 

8. Note the special interests of the pupils. In brief, keep in 
mind the types of pupils with which the teacher must 
work. 


As stated above, much of this information should be 
secured easily from the records, and once learned for the 
particular building or district, it need only be kept up to 
date. Following the method used in studying the teaching, 
we may wish to go somewhat further in studying the pupil. 
His activity in the classroom is even more important than 
that of the teacher since in the final analysis it is through 
pupil activity that learning takes place. 

The following questions?” indicate the nature of the in- 
quiry to be made for the purpose of determining whether or 
not pupils are really learning, are really absorbing the new 
material, whatever it may be. Stated in another way, the 
inquiry would help to determine whether the teacher was 
‘‘getting it across.’’ 


APPERCEPTION 


1. Do the pupils’ reactions indicate that they can interpret 
directions given them? Understand talks and questions? 

2. Are they able to reproduce in their own words stories they 
have read or heard? Do they recognize pictures and other 
book material as applicable to the story? 

3. Do they work out in concrete form new ideas received in 
instruction? In dramatization, in oral and written com- 
position, on the sand table, etc.? 

4. Do they indicate understanding by voluntarily relating per- 
sonal experiences or supplying illustrations that further 
the discussion? Do they check up on contributions that 
are not related to the lesson? 

5. Do they ask questions freely and confidently when they 
do not understand, or when they can go no further with- 
out assistance? 





12 W. H. Burton, op. cit., p. 92. 


STUDYING THE TEACHER 131 


6. Do they offer to answer each other’s questions? To explain 
each other’s difficulties? 

7. Do they consistently think, answer, question, illustrate, etc., 
in terms of relation between school subject-matter and 
life about them, or only in terms of the subject-matter 
abstractions? 

8. Does the vocabulary of each pupil when tested measure up 
to standard for age and grade? 


The present emphasis on pupil activity is a very whole- 
some tendency. Pupil activity only is educative. How- 
ever, the matter should not be carried to the point 
where it is mere quibbling. It is essential to examine both 
pupil and teacher activity. Teaching and learning are 
phases of the same process. Teaching has for its aim the 
stimulation of the learning process. On the other hand, a 
study of the pupil’s learning process should have a reflex 
effect upon the teaching process. It is true that teaching 
is sometimes so overemphasized that little learning takes 
place, but real teaching is for the purpose of promoting 
learning. Learning is a function in which both teacher and 
pupil participate, and in which certain subject matter and 
materials are used. Our attention as supervisors may be 
directed now to the pupil, now to the teacher, now to the 
subject matter, but our efforts are always put forth for the 
fundamental thine—increasing learning through the im- 
provement of teaching. 

Studying the teacher. On this topic, Anderson, Barr, 
and Bush say: 3° 


The supervisor must know not only the different types of 
pupils under the teacher’s direction but also the mental charac- 
teristics of the teacher. Matters of health, home conditions, social 
obligations, and the lke, reflect themselves in the classroom. 
Then, too, the method of teaching pursued by the teacher must 
necessarily reflect the teacher’s personality. The principle of 
individual differences applies to teachers much as it does to 


13 Anderson, Barr, and Bush, op. cit., pp. 7-9. 


132 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


pupils. Information about the teacher is needed not only to 
understand what goes on in the recitation but also for the guid- 
ance of the supervisor in his efforts to assist the teacher. The 
supervisor who is most helpful to teachers is the one who con- 
scientiously attempts to understand the many special character- 
istics of the individuals whose work he desires to improve. 


Collect information about the teacher systematically. A good 
procedure is to go about the matter of getting facts systemati- 
eally. 

1. Study the case history. <A study of the teacher’s history 
should reveal sources of difficulties. Explanations of poor work 
frequently lie in the past. Note particularly: (a) past failures 
and successes, (b) causes of present difficulties, (c) previous 
assistance, (d) reaction to assistance, (e) progress already made 
in overcoming difficulties, ete. 

2. Study the teacher’s professional equipment. A careful 
analysis of training, experience, and professional interests may 
reveal specific causes of difficulties. 

3. Study the teacher’s physical equipment. Possibly the teacher 
is ill. Just because she continues to meet the classes does not 
signify that she is well. Persistent indigestion may be the cause 
of many difficulties. 

4. Study the teacher’s personal equipment. Many difficulties 
are treaceable to personal peculiarities, emotional peculiarities, 
habits of work, habits of dress, special abilities and disabilities. 
Assistance along professional lines is of little value when the 
difficulty is personal. 

5. Study the teacher’s social equipment. Social disappoint- 
ment may result in discouragement and ultimate failure. Note 
home conditions and social activities. An abnormal social life 
may leave little time or interest for teaching. 


In this analysis there is no thought of building up an elab- 
orate filmg system. Information, to be of any value, must be a 
part of the supervisor’s working knowledge of the situation. 
Emphasis is placed on “having in mind.” Information carefully 
filed away somewhere will be of little value. The general point 
is that supervisors must know their teachers. 


Objections to the activity analysis. Three objections 
are often raised against the method of analysis. It is thought 


STUDYING THE TEACHER 133 


by some that the check lists or outlines are: (1) instru- 
ments of inspection, (2) too detailed and cumbersome, and, 
(3) disregardful of, if not inimical to the intangible spirit- 
ual elements in teaching. 

The first two objections are disposed of easily. The check 
lists are not instruments of inspection, though they may be 
used as such, if desired. This eriticism arises from an er- 
roneous understanding of the theory underlying their use. 
In regard to the second criticism, it is true that the outlines 
do look unduly cumbersome at first sight. Much of the de- 
tailed listing, however, is of material already familiar to 
trained teachers and supervisors. It is true that poorly 
constructed check lists may be too detailed and thus un- 
wieldy. Through study and use the competent supervisor 
soon acquires mastery over the detailed items. The instru- 
ment properly constructed and properly understood should 
not stand in the way of the user. 

Analytic versus atmospheric supervision. The third ob- 
jection to the method of analysis 1s important and wide- 
spread. Many people look upon detailed analysis as in- 
imical to, if not destructive of ‘‘spirit,’’ ‘‘morale,’’ and 
‘‘atmosphere’’ in teaching. Some one has defined a “‘high- 
brow’’ as an individual who would rather analyze a thistle 
than smell a rose. It is quite true that analysis can be over- 
done. Such an error is not likely to be made in education 
for some time to come. It would be, however, far less seri- 
ous than the opposite error—failure to analyze. Failure to 
analyze renders the improvement of teaching impossible. 
It may, and often does work a serious injustice to teachers. 

The theory and use of activity analyses as a method in 
supervision is rarely presented to a class or to supervisors in 
convention that vigorous objection is not raised by a certain 
group. During the ensuing discussion a member of the 
‘fold guard’’ will surely rise in defense of the idols of a 
bygone day. Let us quote him almost verbatim: 


134 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


What the professor says is doubtless all very good. It sounds 
fine. It is probably scientific and of value. But there is a real 
danger in being too scientific! With all due regard to these 
new ideas, | must say that I cannot supervise that way. When 
I go to see a teacher teach, I am not interested in every little 
thing she does; what I want to see is a fine “atmosphere” in the 
room, the “right spirit.” To attempt to analyze this would 
spoil it. The main thing after all is the “atmosphere,” etc., etc., 
ete. 


The writers, in advancing the foregoing theory of super- 
vision by means of careful activity analysis, are in no way 
neglecting atmosphere, spirit, and morale. It is main- 
tained, however, that these are general terms indicating a 
mass impression. To the extent that impressions are vague, 
general, and unanalyzed they are meaningless in the real 
work of supervision. What good does it do to know that 
the atmosphere is good, for instance, if the reasons for its 
excellence and the contributing elements are unknown? 
The situation cannot be utilized to improve the atmosphere 
in a room needing improvement. What good does it do to 
know that the atmosphere is poor if the specific elements 
needing improvement cannot be pointed out? 

It is not too harsh to say that many supervisors who deal 
in ‘‘atmospheric’’ terms are dealing literally and figura- 
tively in ‘‘thin air.’’ They do not, in any true sense, under- 
stand what they are talking about. The matter has not 
been reduced to understandable units and terms. Nothing 
ean be done about the situation because there is nowhere to 
begin. Furthermore, the teacher may suffer serious 
injustice. 

An incident which occurred in a class in supervision, con- 
ducted by the writer, illustrates the point. Following a dis- 
cussion of activity analysis a supervisor in the group made 
the usual objection. Atmosphere was the thing. She could 
not even see some of the activity elements discussed in class, 
but asserted that she was certain she could judge the atmos- 


STUDYING THE TEACHER 135 


phere of any room which she supervised. The argument 
was left there. Six weeks later this supervisor stated that 
she had a confession to make to the class. Let us quote her 
almost verbatim: 


There is one room which I visit regularly. The atmosphere has 
always been bad. You are depressed immediately upon entering. 
It has been a problem room for me for years. I have struggled 
with it at length. Two years ago I had a teacher transferred 
because she failed absolutely to improve the atmosphere there. 
Other teachers have not done much better. The atmosphere and 
spirit of the room were poor and continued so. Sometimes I 
thought the teachers were at fault, at other times, I was not sure. 

Last month the building, an old one, was completely reno- 
vated. The room in question was repainted and retinted all over. 
The dark wood was scraped and painted a light color. The 
floors were scraped and oiled. The old desks are gone, new 
movable tables and chairs of light color replace them. Two new 
windows have been cut. Window boxes are in place, new pic- 
tures on the wall, and many other minor changes have been 
made. The atmosphere has completely changed! The method 
of analysis is right. Had I been able to analyze all surrounding 
conditions; had I been comparing situations in terms of minute 
elements entering into each, I think I might have found the 
trouble long ago. 


Here was an honest confession, good for the soul, and for 
supervision as well. A supervisor possessed of the analytic 
point of view would have torn that situation to shreds long 
ago and found the difficulty. This one stopped with the 
vague impression. Teachers working in this room had un- 
doubtedly received a lower rating because of it, although 
they may have been above the average. 

J. S. Taylor,* district superintendent in New York City, 
was once told that a certain principal could walk through 
his school, glance into the rooms, speak to a pupil or two, 
and then know everything that was going on in the school. 


14 J. S. Taylor, ‘‘Some Desirable Traits of the Supervisor,’’ Hdu- 
cational Administration and Supervision, Vol. 9, Jan., 1923, pp. 1-8. 


136 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


This principal by such methods was said to diagnose accu- 
rately the ‘‘atmosphere’’ of his school. In reply Taylor 
preached a whole sermon in one word, a slang word at that. 
‘“ Applesauce,’’ said he! According to Taylor this principal 
had merely invented a good metnod of avoiding work. 

Let us repeat, atmosphere, spirit, and morale are fine and 
splendid. They are essential characteristics of good teach- 
ing situations. These characteristics are, however, quite 
susceptible to analysis. The atmosphere of a room depends 
upon many elements, each of which can be found by the 
trained analyst. When these elements are found it is pos- 
sible to carry the example of good morale to a situation 
which needs improvement. 

The ‘‘atmospheric’’ supervisor will doubtless be popular 
with his teachers; he will have little friction and argument 
in his realm, but he will not materially advance the effi- 
ciency of teaching. The teachers who like him will, to be 
sure, work faithfully for him, but there is a limit to the 
progress they can make under such conditions. If the 
atmosphere is satisfactory in general, many specific errors 
will escape attention. It is even possible that conditions 
exist in which no learning is taking place although the 
atmosphere is practically perfect. 

Summary. Jn studying the work of the teacher, then, 
it is necessary to keep attention focused upon the necessity 
of securing objective data, upon the careful analysis and 
interpretation of these data. The supervisor may secure the 
necessary reliable information either by means of standard 
tests or by means of carefully compiled check lists. This 
we may call diagnostic supervision. These check lists may 
deal with various phases of pupil or teacher activity, or 
with any of the surrounding conditions. 


1. Get the facts. 
2. Look for these facts and evaluate them in terms of definite 
standards. 


o> OV 09 


~] 


STUDYING THE TEACHER 137 


. See that the standards are in the hands of all concerned. 

. Arrange time for a comfortable, worthwhile conference. 

. Establish right attitudes. 

. Analyze the lesson in an encouraging and helpful, but dis- 
criminating manner. 

. Commend the good, question the faulty, leave forward- 
looking suggestions for improvement. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


. AnpEeRSON, C. J., Barr, A. S., and Busu, Maybell, Visiting 


the Teacher at Work (D. Appleton & Co., 1925). <A 
wealth of concrete material. Check lists, case studies in 
applying them, stenographie reports. (Much of the case 
material is available in the Journal of Educational Method, 
Vol. 3, Dec., 1923; Jan., Feb., March, 1924.) 


. ARMENTROUT, W. D., “Supervision and Educational Aims,” 


Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 2, March, 1923, p. 
272. Advocate’s study of the ends of education as a 
guide to analysis. 


. Barr, A. S., and others, Elementary School Standards for 


the Improvement of Teaching (Edwards Bros., 1925). 


. Breuckner, L. J., “The Value of a Time Analysis of Class- 


room Activity as a Supervisory Technique,” Hlementary 
School Journal, Vol. 25, March, 1925, pp. 518-21. Excel- 
lent and very suggestive for further research. 


. Brown, A. E., “The Use of Questions in the Recitation,” 


Education, Vol. 42, Nov., 1921, pp. 166-70. Good simple 
score card. 


. Burton, W. H., Supervision and the Improvement of Teach- 


ing (D. Appleton & Co., 1922), pp. 89-95, 130-39, 152-55, 
169-75, 183-86, 209-10, 227-28, 256-58. Contains many 
elaborate check lists. 


. CARRIGAN, Rose A., “Rating of Teachers on the Basis of 


Supervisory Visitation,’ Journal of Educational Method, 
Vol. 2, Sept., 1922, p. 48. Good lesson analysis, pre- 
senting score card. 


. Coox, W. A., “Uniform Standards for Judging Teachers 


in South Dakota,” Educational Administration and Super- 
vision, Vol. 7, Jan., 1921, pp. 1-11. 


. Dorsry, Susan, M., “Supervision as Liberating the Teacher,” 


138 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


10. 


11. 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


Af 


18. 


19, 


20. 


21. 


22. 


Proceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 55, 
1917, p. 239. 

FRANZEN, R. H., and Goopricu, Bessie, ‘Criteria for Judging 
the Value of Projects,’ Journal of Educational Method, 
Vol. 1, May, 1922, pp. 352-61. Excellent score card for 
projects. 

Gitss, J. T., “Recitation Score Card and Standards,” Ele- 
mentary School Journal, Vol. 23, Sept., 1922, pp. 25-36. 
GRANT, J. R., “Long Distance Supervision,” Hducational Ad- 
ministration and Supervision, Vol. 8, Jan., 922, pp. 60-64. 

Good analysis of a lesson. 

GRAY, Olive, “The Professionalization of the Teaching Staff,” 
Elementary School Journal, Vol. 26, Nov., 1925, pp. 174- 
85. Excellent. 

Gray, W.S., “Rating Scales, Self-Analysis, and the Improve- 
ment of Teaching,” School Review, Vol. 29, Jan., 1921, 
pp. 49-57. Good discussion of self-study and self-criticism. 

, “Methods of Improving the Technique of Teaching,” 
Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, Dec., 1919, pp. 263-75. 

GREENWOOD, J. M., “How to Judge a School,” Educational 
Review, Vol. 17, April, 1899, pp. 334-45. 

Hosic, J. F., “Criteria of Success in Project Teaching,” 
Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 2, April, 1923, pp. 
329-35. 

Hueues, C. L., “Improving Supervision in the Small School 
System,” School Board Journal, Vol. 69, Nov., 1924, pp. 
53 ff. Contains good observation outline based on Burton, 
reference 6 above. 

JOHNSON, F. W., Administration and Supervision of the High 
School (Ginn & Co., 1925). Chap. XVIII contains sev- 
eral good check lists. 

Kocu, Harlan C., “Practicable Codperative Supervision,” 
School Board Journal, Vol. 68, March, 1924, pp. 423 ff. 
Good program, principal as supervisor, teacher participat- 
ing. 

Lutt, H. G. “Project-Problem Instruction,” School and 
Home Education, Vol. 38, Dec., 1918, pp. 79-83. Score 
eard. 

MAXWELL, C. R., The Observation of Teaching (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1917). Contains many observation outlines. 
Pedagogical principles not well differentiated but check 
lists good. 





mal ls 


28. 


29. 


30. 


31. 


36. 


STUDYING THE TEACHER 139 


. McCatt, Wiliam A., How to Measure in Education (The 


Maemillan Co., 1922). Good summary of diagnostic meth- 
ods, Chap. III. 


. McMorry, F. M., Elementary School Standards (World 


Book Co., 1914). 


. Minor, Ruby, “A Case Study in Supervision,’ Educational 


Administration and Supervision, Vol. 8, May, 1921, pp. 
241 ff. 


. Morrison, J. C., “Methods of Improving Classroom Instruc- 


tion Used by Helping Teachers in New Jersey,” EHlemen- 
tary School Journal, Vol. 20, Nov., 1919, pp. 208-16. 

National Society for the Study of Education, Highteenth 
Yearbook, Part II (Public School Publishing Co., 1919). 
Very valuable body of material for use in judging instruc- 
tion. See also Fourteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Year- 
books, Part I. 

NEWLON, Jesse H., “Reorganizing City Supervision,” Journal 
of Educational Method, Vol. 2, June, 1923, pp. 404-11. 
Decries use of check lists as presented in this chapter. 
Misunderstands them as instruments of inspection. 

Nort, H. W., The Supervision of Instruction (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1920). Note particularly Chap. XI, and pages 
164-70. 

Rossman, J. G., “Economy in Supervision,’ School Board 
Journal, Vol. 68, Feb., 1924, pp. 39-40. Plea for case 
method. Good concrete illustration. 

Ruac, George, “Visitation as Means of Diagnosis,” First 
Yearbook of the Department of Elementary School Prin- 
cipals, National Education Association, 1922, pp. 11-19. 


. Stimpson, Mable E., “The Development of Standards in 


Reading an Important Function of Supervision,” Journal 
of Educational Method, Vol. 2, June, 1923, pp. 420-29. 


. SPENCER, Cassie R., “Supervision for Growth,” Proceedings 


of the National Education Association, Vol. 59, pp. 572-75. 


. Strayer, G. D., “A Score Card for School Buildings,” Fif- 


teenth Yearbook, National Society for the Study of Edu- 
cation, Part I, Chap. III (Public School Publishing Co., 
1916). 


. STEVENS, Romiett, “The Question as a Measure of Efficiency 


in Instruction,” Teachers College Contributions to Educa- 
tion, No. 48, 1912. 
Waptes, Douglas, Procedures in High School Teaching (The 


140 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Macmillan Co., 1924). Good chapter on studying the 
pupils. 

37. Wiuson, G. M., “Report of Committee on Evaluation of In- 
struction,” Proceedings of the National Education Asso- 
ciation, Vol. 62, 1924, pp. 486-97. Excellent account, case 
studies. Proposes score cards developed out of check lists. 

38. YAwseERG, A. G., “Principles and Methods of Rural School 
Supervision,” Journal of Rural Education, Vol. 3, Nov., 
1923, pp. 105 ff. Practical helps. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHING THROUGH VISITATION AND 
CONFERENCE 


‘‘What right did you have to make such a terrible 
remark to Miss S down in the third grade this morn- 
ing? Supervisor or no supervisor, you have no right to say 
such things!!!!’’ 

The supervisor stared in blank amazement at an angry 
eighth-grade teacher who thus interrogated him. 

‘‘What am I supposed to have said ?’’ 

‘‘No need to deny it! You said to her right before the 
whole class, ‘Why can’t you make the little devils behave 
better?’ ”’ 

When he recovered his breath the supervisor asserted 
that he had neither said nor thought such a thing while in 
the room. What actually happened was as follows: the 
supervisor, going in to visit a new and young teacher, was 
followed shortly afterwards by the building principal and 
a special supervisor. Feeling that three visitors were too 
many for a young teacher, he soon suggested that they go 
elsewhere. Thinking, in the kindness of his heart, to re- 
lieve the strain somewhat, he said to the teacher as he passed 
out, ‘‘ Well! Three can be a terrible crowd sometimes, can’t 
they?’’ A few minutes later the teacher reported in tears 
to the eighth-grade teacher that the supervisor had said, 
‘“Why can’t you make your little devils behave better.’’ 
Fortunately, the other two visitors and the pupils in the 

141 





142 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


front row had all heard what the supervisor really said. No 
amount of argument, however, ever convinced the teacher 
that her version was not the correct one. This illustrates 
why supervisors grow gray, before their time, visiting and 
conferring with some teachers. On the other hand, much 
of the work involved in classroom visiting and in conference 
is a real pleasure to both teacher and supervisor. In any 
event it is a vitally important part of the supervisor’s 
duties. 

The importance of first-hand contacts with classroom 
work. Efficiency in supervision, in attaining the desired 
educative results, demands unification and codrdination of 
the efforts of all those concerned with its many aspects. 
This implies and necessitates expert leadership. But it also 
demands just as emphatically that the individuality and 
initiative of the teacher, her spontaneity and professional 
alertness be kept alive and at high pitch. The contribution 
of the teacher is as vital and important as that of the super- 
visor above her. 

This problem of unifying and codrdinating the in- 
structional activities of a school system through expert lead- 
ership, and at the same time inspiring and motivating the 
teaching force, and providing for its freedom, comes to a 
sharp focus in classroom visitation and conference. The 
supervisor is called upon to confer with all kinds of teach- 
ers under many varying conditions. Their training will 
range in varying degrees from that of inadequacy to that 
of excellence. Their ability and professional spirit will dif- 
fer in like degree; their personalities and temperaments 
also. In addition, all these factors will be affected by the 
particular circumstances operative at the time of the visit 
or immediately before. The home life of the teacher, her 





1W. H. Burton, Supervision and the Improvement of Teaching, 
(D. Appleton & Co., 1922) pp. 397-98. Paragraphs quoted with 
revisions to date. 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 148 


health, the health of her pupils, weather conditions, etc., 
all serve in one way or another, to make each visit and con- 
ference somewhat unique. 

Furthermore, it is inevitable that the supervisor himself 
will have personal likes and dislikes which operate instine- 
tively and which must be taken into account. His training 
and experience, temperament, and passing mood make more 
complex this most delicate human task of visiting and con- 
ferring with the teacher. 

Therefore it is not wise to lay down fixed rules or formu- 
las, though a general policy can safely be delineated. 

General policy regarding visitation. The elements of 
general policy which should be clearly defined and for which 
provision should be made are: 


(a) Visits on schedule or on eall 

(6) Number, length, and time of visits 

(c) Entering and leaving the room 

(d@) Records and reports concerning visitation 


Shall visitation be on schedule or on call? The earliest 
type of visiting, and one which persists in many places, was 
doubtless random and oceasional ‘‘dropping in’’ of the 
superintendent or the principal. The purpose was chiefly 
inspectorial and the idea that visitation might be for the 
purpose of improving teaching was in the background if 
present at all. The latter aim has come to the front more 
rapidly than has a definite policy for attaining it; that is, 
for a long time the improvement of teaching has been recog- 
nized as the aim of supervision, but a definite policy and 
plan of visits and conferences is a later development in the 
field. 

The next step beyond random visitation was the devel- 
opment of a definite schedule of announced. or unannounced 
visits by the supervisor. The supervisor observed individ- 
ual teachers more or less regularly and worked on such spe- 


144 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


cific problems as happened to present themselves. This was, 
and still is, a very common type of classroom supervision. 
It is immensely better than no supervision or random super- 
vision but not representative of the practices of the better 
types of supervision. 

The natural step to follow was the organization of sched- 
uled visits around some central problem or group of prob- 
lems. In this ease, the objectives of supervision may be 
announced to those concerned or may be developed coodp- 
eratively by supervisors and teachers. Visitation and con- 
ference then become a coherent and continuous process for 
systematic attack upon certain general problems of teaching 
needing attention. Such supervision is widely used at pres- 
ent and has attained in many places a high degree of effi- 
ciency. 

But the whole function of supervision is not fulfilled by 
routine visitation. Beginning teachers will need more than 
the average amount of help with the problems involved in 
the general plan. Other teachers will have special difficul- 
ties. Many teachers know their own difficulties and if con- 
fident of the supervisor’s ability to give help will eall for 
assistance. Still other teachers, already quite successful in 
teaching, will wish to go beyond the general program and 
engage in experimental work and the like. Because of these 
conditions there has evolved the policy of ‘‘visitation-on- 
eall’’ as a supplement to, perhaps eventually a substitute 
for, ‘‘visitation-on-schedule.’’ 

A certain large city announced a few years ago that after 
a certain date the bulk of supervisory work would be done 
in response to calls from teachers, instead of through 
routine, scheduled visits. It was thought by some that the 
supervisors would have nothing to do; that such a pro- 
cedure would eventually destroy their positions. As soon 
as the spirit and efficiency of the plan was demonstrated, 
however, the supervisory staff, an unusually large one, 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 145 


found itself completely overwhelmed with work. This staff 
has never been able to render the amount of service which 
is requested. The total number of calls received could not 
possibly be eared for. Such a situation is an incontro- 
vertible index of good supervision. 

The first routine matter to be cared for, then, is the 
preparation of a schedule of regular visits, or a mechanism 
for handling special calls for assistance. Probably a com- 
bination of the two is the best scheme available at the pres- 
ent time. The relation of a policy of visitation to the super- 
visory plan as outlined in Chapter IV is obvious and needs 
no further elaboration here. 

Should scheduled visits be announced or unannounced? 
This is a moot question with many teachers and supervisors. 
Many theoretical arguments rage but the practical facts 
are that it is practically impossible to get unannounced visi- 
tation, as is illustrated by the following quotation. 


Everyone is familiar with the stir created in a building by the 
appearance of a supervisor. How quickly the news spreads 
through the building, sometimes through the medium of innocent 
appearing messages carried by pupils, sometimes by no apparent 
means at all! Such a scurrying and cleaning up ensues, such 
an erasing of blackboards, such a preparation of special work. 
How carefully the time is caleulated so that the best work can be 
in progress when the door opens! This situation betokens a 
badly mistaken idea regarding the function of supervision. 
Teachers and supervisors are both in part to blame. Attention 
has been focussed on the administrative phase of the supervisor’s 
rating power, while his most vital function, improving the teacher, 
has been overlooked. 


If the primary aim of supervision is the improvement of 


the teacher and her work, and if the schedule of visits is an 
integral part of the organized program of work, then it 


2W. H. Burton, op. cit., p. 405. 


146 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


would seem obvious that visits might be announced for a 
month, for a semester, or even longer. Both teacher and 
supervisor should be working together for the accomplish- 
ment of certain aims which they themselves have set up co- 
operatively for realization. 

Inspection was formerly the chief function of supervision. 
It was often exercised in a mechanical way by individuals 
without sufficient time, interest, or training to do it in any 
other way. The idea was to catch the teacher unaware and 
thus obtain what was thought to be a fair view of her real 
work. This is responsible, doubtless, for much of the op- 
position to supervision in general and to the unannounced 
visit in particular. Inspection and rating are still legiti- 
mate functions of supervision. Are unannounced visits 
necessary? Obviously not. Inspectorial ratings should 
be made by people competent to make them, people enjoy- 
ing the confidence of the teaching staff. Furthermore such 
ratings should be based upon a large array of observed 
facts, and not upon one or two recitations visited solely for 
the purpose of rating. When supervisors base their ratings 
on good and bad work alike, and upon a wide range of 
pbservation, and when teachers fully understand the stand- 
ards used, the fear of such procedure will be lessened 
considerably. Unannounced visits are probably not neces- 
sary for these inspectional reports since ample data will be 
gathered in the course of a regular program of visita- 
tion. 

In any case the distinction between inspectional super- | 
vision, which has for its aim the rating of teachers, and co- 
operative supervision which has for its aim the improve- 
ment of teachers, should be borne in mind. Since the 
principal is concerned with both functions, his visits may 
be announced or unannounced as the situation demands. 
By more or less continuous visitation the principal not only 
keeps himself thoroughly familiar with his school but can 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 147 


render great assistance to his teachers. But, for the super- 
visor, whose primary purpose is assistance, the visit, 
except when he is interested in informing himself on 
general instructional conditions, may well be made only 
on eall. 

Number, length, and time of visits. Examination of cur- 
rent procedure shows the utmost variation in the number of 
visits by supervisors. They range from daily to yearly with 
the median as monthly. 

The first visits of the principal or supervisor are usually 
for the purpose of becoming familiar with the personality, 
general ability, and special problems of the group under 
supervision. Ag these points become clearer and the 
routine points require less attention, the supervisory obser- 
vations should be directed toward the accomplishment of a 
series of objectives which have been set up in terms of local 
needs. The policy of ‘‘visitation-on-call’’ then automati- 
cally takes care of the number, length, and time of visits. 
When a schedule is used it should conform as nearly as pos- 
sible to the daily schedules of the teachers visited. 

However, there will always be need and demand for 
visitation over and above that called for by schedule or 
requested by teachers. Inexperienced teachers who are hav- 
ing difficulties, or experienced teachers who are not getting 
results, will need special time and attention. General su- 
pervisors, particularly the building principal, will do much 
visiting of this type. Many of the principal’s visits will be 
unannounced, not that the teacher is to be caught unaware, 
but because she is the object of special and more or lesg con- 
tinuous attention. Properly worked out, this frequent, in- 
formal visitation and conference in special cases is a most 
effective device. 

Whether a schedule has been constructed in advance or 
not visitation should begin early in the term. If the teach- 
ers are working toward certain objectives laid down in 


148 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


the general plan it is well to know early that all are started 
correctly and proceeding along approved lines. In the ab- 
sence of a plan the first visits should probably be to inex- 
perienced teachers, those new to the system, and those 
known to be weak. Much difficulty can be prevented by dis- 
covering incipient failure early in the term. 

In regard to the number of visits, only a glittering gen- 
eralization can be laid down. The number of visits will be 
determined by the nature of the particular program of 
supervision involved, by the ability of the supervisor, and 
by the individual differences manifested by teachers. Some 
programs of supervision will require much visiting, others 
less. Regardless of the objectives being pursued, teachers 
will vary in the amount of time they need. This matter 
will have to be determined by the individual supervisor in 
terms of his specific problems. 

Like the number of visits, the length of the visits will be 
determined by the special conditions of the case in point. 
There has been much protest voiced by teachers concerning 
brief hurried visits, particularly if such visits are made 
the basis for rating or criticism. Preferably the super- 
visor should see a whole recitation at a time, and a 
succession of such recitations before passing important 
judgments. However it is sometimes physically im- 
possible to maintain such a standard for all visitation. 
It should not be forgotten that the more expert the 
supervisor, the more he can determine in a given time. 
Experienced teachers will usually admit that a supervisor 
can judge routine and disciplinary factors in a brief visit, 
but they object to the passing of pedagogical judgments 
based on short visits. However, the same expertness can 
be gained for most of the common types of teaching, and 
short visits when absolutely necessary are a reasonable, 
though not the best, basis for judgment. In such eases the 
important factor is the training and experience of the 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 149 


supervisor, not the time he spends in the room. It is as- 
sumed, of course, that the supervisor is thoroughly familiar 
with all attendant circumstances, the previous teaching of 
the class, the type of class, difficulty of the subject, place 
of the lesson in a series, and so forth. Let it be repeated, 
however, that wherever possible the unit of visitation should 
be the whole recitation. 

Entering and leaving the room. The manner of enter- 
ing and leaving the room are matters of routine that would 
not seem to be difficult to understand but which cause much 
of the friction between teachers and supervisors. The pro- 
cedure can be briefly summarized, and the expert super- 
visor will have little trouble with this point. Obviously 
the entrance should be as inconspicuous as possible, causing 
a Tainimum of disruption in the work going on. The super- 
visor who deems it his duty to enter in a more or less pom- 
pous way and to bestow a hearty greeting upon children 
and teacher mistakes his proper place in the scheme of 
things. He is guilty of a breach of good manners as well, 
since an interruption in the schoolroom is as rude as, and 
much more unnecessary than, one in other forms of social 
gathering. The visit is for the purpose of helping the 
teacher to better her work and not to break up the work by 
announcing the supervisor’s arrival. The mere presence of 
a supervisor creates a situation difficult enough for many 
teachers to meet. What the supervisor really wants to see 
is teaching done under normal conditions. The manner 
of entrance of many supervisors makes this an impossi- 
bility. 

The visitor should then sit or stand in such position as 
affords a good view of what is going on, at the same time 
attracting as little attention as possible. Behind the class 
at the back of the room is in most eases a good place. To 


3W. H. Burton, op. cit., pp. 397-98. (Paragraphs quoted with 
revisions to date.) 


150 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


sit at the teacher’s desk in front provides two foci of atten- 
tion and creates a problem for the teacher. 

Taking notes often disturbs and embarrasses a teacher 
very badly and should be avoided except in the case of 
teachers who do not mind. The supervisor should have 
clearly in mind, however, the elements of technique in- 
volved in the lesson and make some notes as soon as he 
leaves the room, unless discussion takes place immediately. 
The check lists and observation outlines illustrated in Chap- 
ter V are designed to furnish the supervisor with a compact, 
easily remembered scheme for organizing his observations 
and notes. The preference of the teacher in regard to posi- 
tion in the room and the taking of notes might well be 
consulted. Leaving the room should be as inconspicuous as 
entering. 

As a rule the supervisor should not step in and take a 
class unless asked to do so by the teacher. Many an op- 
portunity will be given at the end of the recitation to ask 
a question or two. In special cases permission should be 
asked to give a few questions to the class. If seat work is 
going on, the supervisor should go about the room observing 
and assisting different pupils, following, as nearly as he 
ean determine it, the teacher’s plan. In no ease should the 
supervisor hold a class over its usual closing time because 
this may upset the program for the entire day. 

The supervisor may, with special cases, ask that fairly 
definite lesson plans be kept ready for his inspection. These 
may be in the nature of weekly outlines and obviously 
would not be required of experienced teachers whose work 
was satisfactory. 

Records of visits. Some form of visitation record is 
essential for various reasons. Purely as a matter of busi- 
ness efficiency and as a check upon the announced schedule 
of visits such records are necessary. The chief reasons, 
however, are pedagogical. The important thing is not the 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 151 


visitation itself but the conference which follows. This 
conference must be based upon concrete illustrations and 
must be directed directly toward the situation in hand. A 
record of things observed, of actual statements and 
happenings, is the only safe basis for a professional dis- 
cussion. 

Furthermore the record serves as a useful picture of 
follow-up work, as a check upon suggestions made and upon 
the teacher’s use of them. The complete record will not 
stop with the lesson observed, but will contain also a record 
of the conference which followed, questions discussed, argu- 
ments raised, suggestions left, directions given, ete. An 
extended and unusually valuable collection of case studies 
bearing on this point is to be found in Visiting the Teacher 
at Work, Chapters V, VI and VII. 

Whatever the form of record used it should register the 
essentials of the visit with a minimum expenditure of time 
and energy. A compact list of numbered points, a ‘‘check- 
list’’ to be used throughout the system is an efficient device. 
(See Chap. V.) Wagner recommends the use of a pad 
in which a carbon copy can be made.* The check list 
is printed for quick reference on the reverse side of the 
sheet : 


These definite observations and judgments are made and re- 
corded on standard merits or excellences. This is quite different 
from forming a general impression and registering that in “recol- 
lection.” 

A printed form on white paper is marked original and a dupli- 
cate is on yellow paper. Insertion of carbon paper between the 
white and yellow sheets results in making two copies of the notes 
at one writing. This saves time and labor. 





4C, A. Wagner, Common Sense in School Supervision (Bruce Pub- 
lishing Co., 1921) pp. 49-51. 


152. THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


COMMON-SENSE SUPERVISION 
Original 
(Any) School District 
Superintendent’s Notes of Visits NO. eres | 


(Numbers refer to list on the back of the sheet) 
Sualpapae miei stad cere ee teas LEACHET Y's sisters eae cate school ; 


RH ce prades 3 .acLiepupilsian lass siew ve ee et eras 


Procedure noted: 
STATISTICS 


Commendation : 
Improvable: Grades |Enrolled | Present 
Suggestions: 

Reaction to suggestions: 


Suggestions repeated: 


Worth of work: Time: Place: 


for conference on. 


RCOCUIT OT: WISI bee wee tet minutes. 
TRAbC citi Mal re tees sata ate Hour caiedeins tees 
(Superintendent) 





OBSERVATION SHEET 
(Printed in duplicate sets on white and yeliow paper) 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 


153 


The following information is found on the reverse side of 
observation sheet : 


Note: 


EXCELLENCES OF TEACHING 


I. General Conditions 


. Management of light 
. Management of ventilation 
. Management of tempera- 


ture 


. Appearance of blackboards 
. Care of cloakrooms 

. Care of corridors 

. Use of maps and charts 

. Oversight of grounds 

. Care of school property 

. Orderliness 


of arrange- 


ments 


. Pupil’s work displayed 
. Floors clean 
. Teacher offers suggestions 


Il. The Teacher 


14 


Lvs 
18. 
LO; 
20. 
21. 
22. 
23. 


. Animation 
15: 
16. 


Bearing before school 

Language and expressions 
used 

Voice 

Preparation of work 

Attitude toward pupils 

Attitude toward work 

Use of supplies 

Use of time 

School reports to date 


III. The Pupils 
24. Properly seated 


25. 
26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 
30. 
31. 
32. 
33. 
34, 


Right positions required 
Orderly movements required 
Use time profitably 

Are responsive 

Are earnest in work 

Show respect 

Well mannered 

Prompt 

Punctual 

Regular in attendance 


IV. The Instruction 


35. 


Requires comparisons 


37. 


38. 
39. 
40. 


41. 
42. 


43, 
44, 


Numbers of this list will be used in the Notes of Visits. 
36. 


Connects lesson with pupil’s 
experience 

Requires independent 
thought 

Develops intelligence 

Adapted to pupils 

Leads pupils to ask ques- 
tions . 

Trains 
study 

Suggests wisely 

Discovers weaknesses 

Develops pupils’ interest 


for independent 


V. The Discipline 


45. 
46. 
47. 


48. 
49, 


Develops self-control 

Develops self-direction 

Corrects by commendation 
and suggestion 

Uses fear judiciously 

Secures right conduct from 
ethical consideration 


VI. The Recttation 


50. 


51. 
52. 
53. 
54. 
55. 
56. 


57. 
58. 


. Corrects 


Arouses and sustains lesson 
interest 

Makes all pupils take part 

Tests preparation 

Questions in correct form 

Answers in correct form 

Elicits discussion 

Employs drill advanta- 
geously 

Uses reference material 

Combines and socializes ef- 
fort 


. Commends success and ef- 


fort 


. Lesson plan evident 
. Lesson plan executed 
. Pupils eriticize and evalu- 


ate their own effort 


. Lesson assignment starts 


effort-evoking interest 
faults by com- 
mending virtues 


154 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Some principals and supervisors, upon their return to 
the office, follow the procedure of dictating or writing re- 
ports summarizing the recitations observed. Excellent 
examples of this type of report are to be found in the 
Twelfth Yearbook, Part I, National Society for the Study 
of Education. The following is a very brief example. The 
entire discussion should be studied in the original.® 


May 9, 1912 


Grade 7 
Mr. R. 

I visited the room several times, and saw parts of spelling, 
history, and arithmetic. In every case the teacher was hearing 
recitations, and it seemed that all the preparation necessary for 
such work as he was doing could have been made in half an hour. 
The spirit of the class was pretty good and they had the attitude 
of attention. There was, however, no genuine interest or any- 
thing to be interested in. 

In the spelling, rules and book statements concerning prefixes 
and suffixes were given by the class, when called for, but there 
was left on the board without criticism or discussion the following 
list of words written by one girl: “sensor, migrator, interior, 
anchor.” 

In diseussion later with Mr. R., I pointed out to him that a 
wise discussion of those four words would have been more valu- 
able than anything he did in the class. The first word was mis- 
spelled; three of them, although they ended in or, did not show 
the use of that suffix; and the fourth, migrator, is not a word in 
common use. In making sentences using the suffix ness, the 
sentence “The sweetness of the apple is great” was not quite 
satisfactory to the teacher, but “The sweetness of the apple is 
good” was acceptable—showing how formal their thinking was. 

The history lesson was based on some papers which the chil- 
dren had prepared. It was a review—six weeks before the end 
of the year. The children had made lists of American and Brit- 
ish victories and of American and British generals. All they 


5 Twelfth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Edu- 
cation, Part I, pp. 104 ff. 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 155 


did practically was to read from their papers—not even a dis- 
cussion of relative values. 

In the arithmetic, before they took up their problems on the 
board, the teacher said, “We will take up again our development 
of the subject of customs and duties.” This consisted of the 
following questions: “What do you understand by customs and 
duties?” “Why only on imported goods?” ‘What kinds of 
duties are there?” “What do you understand by specific duties?” 
“What do you understand by ad valorem duty?” In each ease 
the children seemed to be trying to remember the definitions from 
the book, and the teacher was satisfied with that result. 

I spent an hour talking over this work with Mr. R. I pointed 
out to him that it was bare hearing of recitations, without in- 
terest or genuine content, and then I took up each lesson in 
detail and showed him one way in which it might be presented 
so that it would be of interest and value. I told him that I 
thought the children’s time was largely wasted, and that they 
must have been more or less bored by the work, and I tried 
throughout our discussion to make him see that good work 
requires time and mental effort in preparation. A large growth 
and improvement are necessary before Mr. R. is a satisfactory 
teacher. 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1912 


Grade 8 


Mr. R. (same as previous one) 

Arithmetic.—The idea of percentage was well developed by the 
use of fraction. The lesson was well planned and the steps 
logically presented. Class were all thinking and in good work- 
ing order. 


May 25, 1910 


Grade 5 
Miss G. 

My impression of Miss G. as a teacher is that she is generally 
weak, indecisive, and uncertain. Her preparation is not strong, 
nor is her organization, or questions, or ability in handling the 
answers of the children. I nevertheless think that in the first 
or second grade she may do work that would prove fairly sat- 
isfactory. 


156 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


ApRIL 25, 1912 
Grade 3 


Miss G. (same as one before) 

I rarely have greater pleasure in a visit. When I first went 
in, Miss G. had about fifteen of her children; the rest had gone 
to German. Those in the room were reading to each other from 
a book which the teacher supplied, doing this most earnestly and 
seeming to be interested. Later, with this same group, the teacher 
was presenting a poor physiology lesson, but the children were 
working hard on it. 

Then I saw the rest of the class come in, in a most informal 
way, and yet with such perfect order in the best sense, and I 
was extremely pleased. There were forty of them, certainly 
not very clean, and rather poor, difficult-looking children, but 
they sat with bright looks and an attitude of expectancy which 
certainly spoke well for the teacher. They had a good language 
lesson in which all were working, and then they played a story 
which had been told well and with good spirit. I praised Miss 
G. for the kind of work she was doing, and talked over her 
physiology with her, showing how she could make it much more 
valuable and interesting. It is fine to see her succeeding and 
in so difficult a place. 


County Superintendent A. G. Yawberg of Cleveland de- 
seribes his systems of reports as follows: 

After the visits in any one building are completed, the super- 
intendent makes a written report of his observations and sug- 
gestions, three copies of which are made, one for his own file, one 
for the principal of the building, and one for the teacher. This 
report is sent out within a few days, and may be followed by a 
further conference, requested by either the teacher or the super- 
intendent. 


A somewhat more elaborate outline is presented by 
Burton. In may be used wholly or in part, depending 
upon the specific lesson observed. It may be combined with 
a check-list or it may serve as a skeleton for written reports. 
It is not a score card but a report blank. 


6 W. H. Burton, op. cit., pp. 417-18. 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 157 


OUTLINE FOR OBSERVATION REPORT 


This is not a score card, but a skeletonized outline for reports 
on classroom visitations. For further guidance on any topic 
listed, consult the detailed sheet dealing with that topic. 

Make clear-cut, definite statements. Do not discuss at great 
length except in unusual cases. Support your conclusions with 
concrete, specific evidence. Do not generalize. Number the para- 


graphs. 
DUGiaratie.« « LUNG ois ats Bulding .sececes Observers: se cet 
PICR ETE ees acne eee TTUdEG'.  o's's UD JECT Pra erarts ers (ise 


1. The physical conditions. (Light, heat, ventilation, cleanli- 
ness, decoration, ete.) 

2. The routine factors. (Getting started, taking roll, seating 
and passing, handling supples, materials, and apparatus, 
ete.) 

3. Discipline. (Means, skill, occasions. ) 

4. The teacher’s mastery and organization of subject matter. 
(Evidence of careful planning? If self-selected, under 
what principles? If a text is used, is it adapted to the 
situation, or the situation to it?) 

5. The teacher’s ability as shown in the type of lesson observed. 
(This will be the body of the report. Discuss in some 
detail the type used: problem-solving or “deduction” ; 
making generalizations or “induction”; learning a new 
association or motor skill; drill; enjoyment or “appreci- 
ation”; expression or contribution lesson; assignment; 
study; review. If lesson observed was part of a project 
discuss the organization of this lesson in relation to the 
whole. ) 

6. The teacher’s use of, or violation of, the general principles 
of learning: apperception, self-activity, use of interests, 
individual differences, ete. 

7. The teacher’s use of questions. (Number and kind; thought 
versus memory; pace; method of calling on pupils; skill 

- in wording and adapting.) 

8. The teacher’s use of checks, tests, standard scores. (For 
adapting the work to individual differences; for grading; 
for securing interest; etc.) If the observer does not 


158 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


see an actual use of this material, he may infer its use 
from graphs and charts about the room, or he may inquire 
of the teacher. In ease this work is done by the super- 
visor himself, the report should contain his findings and 
interpretations, together with advice to the teacher. 


Types of conferences. Visitation of the teacher at 
work in her classroom should be followed without fail by 
conference. In the main, conferences are of the following 
general classes: 


1. Group conferences, or teachers’ meetings 
(a) Staff or faculty meetings 
(b) Grade or intergrade meetings 
(c) Committee meetings 
2. Individual conferences 
(a) The conference following a classroom visit 
(6) The follow-up conference 
(c) The pre-teaching conference 


Group conferences and teachers’ meetings are discussed 
in detail in Chapter XI and may be dismissed from atten- 
tion here. 

The commonest kind of conference is that with individual 
teachers following classroom visits. The follow-up con- 
ference is a series of such visits and conferences with one 
teacher for the purpose of eradicating a specifie difficulty, 
for giving extra help on, a piece of experimental work, or 
for introducing a new teacher to the system, ete. The pre- 
teaching conference is often necessary with beginning or 
poor teachers so that lesson plans and projected procedures 
can be discussed in advance of actual classroom trial. Be- 
fore differentiating further between these conferences let 
us consider a general policy for conference and criticism 
which will apply to all like. In the following discussion the 
individual conference following visitation will be most 
prominently in mind, though the principles laid down apply 
equally to the other types of conference. 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 159 


General policy governing conference. The following 
items of general policy will be developed in this section of 
the chapter. 


(a) The conference must be adapted to individual needs. 

(b) The conference must be adapted to specific material sit- 
uations. 

(c) The conference must be preceded by definite preparation. 

(d) Time must be provided for holding conference. 

(e) A technique of criticism must be evolved, mastered, and 
used, 


Adapting the conference to specific situations.’ An ele- 
ment of general policy which may be disposed of easily is 
the adaptation of conference work to individual differences 
among the teachers. In the case of the zealous, well-trained, 
competent teacher, scheduled conferences can be reduced to 
a minimum. Assistance should more often be given in 
response to requests from the teacher, than on the super- 
visor’s initiative. On the other hand, the beginning or 
weak teacher will need more frequent and more intensive 
attention. 

Furthermore the nature of the assistance given each type 
of teacher will differ materially. As a rule, general prin- 
ciples are not adequate, nor the best form in which to give 
assistance. To the degree, however, that the trained, ex- 
perienced teacher can apply such principles, they may be 
used. Considerable time and energy will thus be saved. 
Active encouragement also should be given to this type of 
teacher to undertake projects, experiments, and advanced 
work. The weaker teacher will need specific direction and 
detailed assistance. 

Sometimes the nature of the situation or the material in- 
volved, and not the efficiency of the teacher, will determine 


7W. H. Burton, op. cit., pp. 397-98. (Paragraphs quoted with 
revisions to date.) 


160 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


the degree of definiteness in the directions given. There 
are situations which call for definite directions to all teach- 
ers, plus the tactful but firm request that the suggestions be 
carried out as given and at the time designated. Upon 
other occasions the broadest freedom should be allowed for 
all teachers to work out their own ideas. The supervisor 
must develop skill in recognizing which treatment is de- 
manded. Even where specific directions are given, it is 
assumed that explanations and reasons accompany them, 
and that every opportunity is given to raise questions or to 
ask further explanation and discussion. 

The right and wrong application of specific directions is 
well illustrated in the following quotation from Dorsey: ® 


A clear-cut order as to time and place for delivering the 
registers at the end of each month, the precise meaning of each 
signal bell, the stairs and exits to be used by each room in case 
of fire drill, are matters that admit of but one interpretation and, 
if done at all, should be done according to orders. To carry 
the same precision into the exact number of pages and para- 
graphs to be covered in a subject in one week is slavish uniform- 
ity. In a recent survey of a city school system, an assistant 
superintendent who was accompanying the survey official asked 
the teacher of a certain class what point her pupils had reached 
in their geography work. The teacher. named the exact page 
and paragraph. “You are behind in your work,” said the super- 
intendent. The class should have been working on a paragraph 
one page in advance of that which they had reached. And this 
man was a supervisor! I know a fascinating supervisor 
of drawing who, in giving lessons to her teachers with 
crayon, water-color, brush, or other medium, hurriedly sketches 
the model and as she sketches, says, “Now, children (she 
always addresses the teachers as children and in that way 
tries to imagine that she is teaching the children themselves), 
you might do it this way, or here is another way, or you 
might use this model or that; you might work it out this way 


8Susan M. Dorsey, ‘‘Supervision as Liberating the Teacher,’’ 
Proceedings of the National Education Association, 1917, p. 241, 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 161 


or that way. ‘What a variety of suggestions; what opportunity 
for experiment; what a great, broad, free world of form, color, 
design, and material to revel in.’ Take your choice, teachers.” 
And teachers do take their choice unconscious of supervision, all 
the while contributing to their own supervision by suggestions 
and experiments, being constantly led into new, delightful con- 
ceits as free as the sky they picture. 

Definite, unyielding prescriptions where necessary, and an end- 
less variety of suggestions from which to choose where possible 
—these are the features of supervision which liberates teachers. 


Even in the field of method there is more and more 
sround for more or less definite requirements. Teachers 
sometimes feel that they should be free lke the artist or 
poet, forgetting that these workers too are bound by the 
nature of their medium. This point is well stated by 
Bobbitt : ° 


Teachers cannot be allowed to follow caprice in method. When 
a method which is clearly superior to all other methods has been 
discovered, it alone can be employed. To neglect this function 
and to excuse one’s negligence by proclaiming the value of the 
freedom of the teacher was perhaps justifiable under our earlier 
empiricism when the supervisors were merely promoted teachers 
and on the scientific side at least knew little more about standards 
and methods than the rank and file. To-day it is an excuse that 
appears fair, but is in part but a respectable cover for ignorance 
and indolence. Nothing less than this is fair to the teacher. 
The amount of knowledge required at the present time in even. 
elementary education is so extensive that no one individual can 
be expected to cover it all. The principal must specialize in one 
way and the teacher in another so that their efforts may supple- 
ment each other. 


There can be no legitimate objection to taking directions 
in regard to procedures that are by their nature fixed. 


9 Franklin Bobbitt, ‘‘The Supervision of City Schools,’’ Twelfth 
Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 1913, 
p. 95. 


162 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


When differences of opinion arise in regard to teaching 
processes, however, the teacher should object not to the 
directions given, but to the fact that the supervisor will not 
discuss them, if that be the case. The supervisor is not 
wrong in giving directions, but he is wrong if he will not 
discuss them, or listen to the teacher’s views on the matter. 
The fact that he gives definite suggestions is really an ad- 
vantage to the teacher, since then she has actual evidence 
for the basis of a complaint, or for proving the excellence 
of supervision or the lack of it. Much legitimate complaint 
has been registered from teachers everywhere in regard to 
autocratic methods used by supervisors and in regard to 
the danger that attends any effort to advance legitimate dif- 
ferences of opinion. 

The foregoing discussion, brief and general as it is, indi- 
eates that the conference like all other teaching and super- 
visory devices must be adapted to the exigencies of the 
particular situation in hand. 

The preparation for the conference. The conference 
should be preceded by a period of careful preparation, 
since the constructive criticism of teaching is a most diffi- 
eult task. As a result of his deliberations upon any teaching 
situation, the supervisor should have, prior to the conference, 
clearly in mind the facts in the case, the conditions con- 
tributing to these facts, and a plan of procedure. The 
supervisor might also have in mind from his study, the 
teacher’s probable reaction to suggestions and the best 
methods of getting her to understand the recommendations 
he has to offer. It is well to have noted prior to the con- 
ference two or three major elements of strength in the work 
of this teacher, and perhaps a lesser number of weaknesses. 
Finally, it is advisable to select from many things that 
might come into the discussion a few points for emphasis. 
In general the supervisor should have thought completely 
through the situation before entering the conference. 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 163 


Where will the supervisor have gotten the data which are 
to be the basis for this conference? In what form should 
the material be recorded to be most easily available and 
usable? Supervisors should without fail make use of record 
blanks (examples in previous chapter and at close of this 
one) on which are set down their observations gathered 
during the classroom visit. These records may be of the 
check-list, or items-to-observe variety, or they may involve 
the writing of more detailed paragraphs. The important 
thing is that what was observed be set forth briefly, clearly, 
and above all, concretely. Sometimes the supervisor’s reac- 
tion to what was seen may be included in the blank but this 
is often withheld until the conference. These records may 
or may not be handed to the teacher on a duplicate form. 
It is usually better to supply the teacher so that she may 
have studied the matter also in preparation for the con- 
ference. 

Time for conference must be provided. There is no uni- 
formity of practice in regard to the amount of time given 
to conferences, nor in regard to the time for holding them. 
The all too common practice is to hold a hurried consulta- 
tion in front of the room or at the door just as the super- 
visor is leaving. Recess periods, between class intermis- 
sions, noon hours, and other odd periods are often utilized. 
Obvious!y little good can result, while much dissatisfaction 
ean be engendered. One of the chief complaints of teachers 
about supervision is that the supervisor visits and the 
teacher hears nothing more about it. 

A better type of procedure, still far from perfect, is akin 
to that used with student teachers in normal schools. The 
supervisor writes out on a blank (or uses a check list) the 
chief points of strength and weakness in a lesson, and hands 
this to the practice teacher. Then after time to study this 
over, a brief conference is held. More can be accomplished 
than by the unorganized conference. Skillfully handled, 


164 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


this type of criticism can be of some benefit. Unless con- 
siderable discussion is provided for, however, visitation, 
conference, and criticism will not accomplish their full 
measure of good. 

Ideally every plan of supervision should provide definite 
conference periods at a time when the teacher is not already 
tired out by the day’s work, nor harassed by duties need- 
ing immediate attention. The consultation should be a free 
discussion in which the teacher feels free to ask questions 
and to offer counter suggestions as they are warranted. 

Placing supervision on the service basis, the bulk of the 
work being done in answer to call from the teacher, has 
simplified this matter greatly. Teachers asking assistance 
will exert effort to find time for conference, while the super- 
visor is able to maintain definite office hours like any other 
consulting specialist. 

The criticism of teaching a difficult task. Quoting from 
Visiting the Teacher at Work:?° 


Probably the best way for those who have not had supervision 
experience to really appreciate the difficulty of conferring with 
teachers is to recall the experience of giving some friend a word of 
advice. Most persons have had this experience some time or an- 
other. At the best, it is a hazardous undertaking. And because of 
this human factor, the criticism of teaching is one of the most per- 
plexing tasks that the supervisor has to perform. It is one thing 
to see ways of improving teaching, and quite another to tell the 
teacher about them. Because of the unpleasant nature of the 
duty, the supervisor is likely to delay action until too late. Cub- 
berley in speaking of the principal and the criticism of teaching © 
says: “Teachers are permitted to continue in wrong practices, 
even when they mean ultimate failure, because the principal dis- 
likes the duty of changing their methods by constructive advice. 
This is not fair to the teacher or to the children under her, and 
is a clear evasion of duty by the principal.” 


10 Anderson, Barr, and Bush, Visiting the Teacher at Work (D. 
Appleton & Co., 1925), p. 39. 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 165 


A second difficulty is found in the common connotation 
for the word ‘‘criticism.’’ Unfortunately most people 
think of ‘‘criticism’’ as adverse, unfavorable, negative, and 
often as unkind. Criticism is very often looked on as fault- 
finding. The real meaning of the word, of course, is judg- 
ment or evaluation. Criticism can be either favorable or 
unfavorable, positive or negative, for or against, kind or 
unkind, pro or con, as the case may be. The supervisor 
must strive by his method, attitude, and expertness of as- 
sistance rendered to overcome this natural fear of unfavor- 
able criticism. He should foster the idea that he is not 
primarily a critic or judge of teaching, but that he is in 
addition an assistant, a teacher of teachers, a leader, a co- 
operating worker in the common task. 

The characteristics of good criticism. This matter has 
been summarized by Wagner in an unusually concise state- 
ment: 7 


There are three infallible marks of the right kind of super- 
vision: commendation of the good, condemnation of the unsatis- 
factory, suggestion of the better. ... 

What is commended must be recognizable by the teacher as 
commendable or she at once loses respect for the supervisor’s 
judgment or for his sincerity. Mere flattery will not serve. A 
sure discernment of the good and the best quality, an unfailing 
recognition of the best ends of effort, and an instant readiness 
to direct the teacher to the accepted sources of help, these three 
are needed to give skill and strategic power in the commendation 
of the teaching procedure. 


Similarly, MeMurry says: ? 


In the first place, then, criticism will be as adverse as the sit- 
uation requires, but it must also be constructive. Earnest teachers 


11C, A. Wagner, Common Sense in School Supervision (Bruce 
Publishing Co., 1921), p. 39. 

12 Ff, M. McMurry, Hlementary School Standards (copyright, 1913, 
by World Book Co., Yonkers-on-Hudson, N. Y.), pp. 202-03. 


166 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


are not seeking mere praise: they want help. And they will 
raise no objection to adverse criticism, if valuable constructive 
criticism follows. 

Second, the criticisms offered, both adverse and constructive, 
are helpful largely to the extent that they are based on reasons 
—such as aims and principles of education—rather than on per- 
sonal authority. To ignore this fact and base statements on 
personal opinion quickly arouses antagonism and defeats the 
objects aimed at. 

Third, since the principal is desiring to influence the teacher’s 
conduct in class, he has chosen a most difficult task, and his ideas 
must be presented with all possible force. They must, therefore, 
be so arranged that all those bearing upon a particular point 
are brought together in good sequence, there must be enough of 
them too, to produce a cumulative effect. All of them taken 
together must be so ordered that the main suggestions seem 
simple and few. In short, the principal’s ideas must be so or- 
ganized as to produce conviction. 

Fourth, the lecture form of presentation is as unfitting for 
him as for the teachers. The teacher does not care to be lec- 
tured to; that is too unpedagogical and undemocratic. Hence 
the principal should raise questions and participate in the an- 
swers through discussion. 


The foregoing are excellent summaries. Let us elaborate 
some of the points. 

Criticism should be encouraging. It cannot be too 
strongly emphasized that the supervisor’s personality and 
his manner of administering individual conferences must 
be such as to encourage teachers to seek conferences upon 
any problems confronting them. Says Dorsey: ** 


Supervision to liberate the teacher must itself be free and gen- 
erous, given in an ungrudging, open-handed, at-any-time, at-any- 
place sort of way. I once heard a supervisor of handwork who 
brusquely turned from his office a young teacher seeking help, 
with the remark that he was not giving individual instruction, 
that if she had wished to learn how to apply that particular 


13 Susan M. Dorsey, op. cit., p. 241. 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 167 


finishing product she should have been present at such an hour 
and place. Now it so happened that this young teacher belonged 
to a remote school, and on the evening when the particular les- 
son had been given she had been detained by a serious case of 
discipline. She had sought the needed assistance at the earliest 
possible moment so as not to delay the work of her class, only 
to meet a heart-breaking rebuff. Such supervisors are petty 
tyrants, not liberators. It all depends upon the supervisor’s 
tact, kindliness, and interest in his work and his desire to have 
the utmost of technical and inspirational help reach the children 
through the teacher. To liberate teachers, supervisors must not 
be military tacticlans or mechanical organizers, but courteous 
directors, skillful suggestors, inspirational leaders, subtle path- 
finders. 


A friendly atmosphere is a necessity. The supervisor 
should strive for a kindly, sympathetic, and tactful atti- 
tude, at the same time keeping the discussion on an objec- 
tive and scientific plane. It is well usually to begin with 
commendation of the good, if such commendation has an 
actual basis in fact. The supervisor must be infinitely 
patient and not unforgetful of the demands upon at) 
teacher, knowing that the evolution of good ce is 
long slow process. 

In Nutt’s study the teachers mentioned 220 items of di- 
rect assistance received from the supervisors, and at the 
same time mentioned 213 times the kindly sympathetic 
manner or attitude of the supervisor as a distinct help. 
This indicates the vital importance of the encouraging atti- 
tude which must accompany criticisms. 

Common errors complained of by teachers are that super- 
vision is carried on in a harsh, dictatorial manner, that the 
supervisor appears irritated and impatient by mistakes in 
teaching, that the supervisor is not sensitive to the ‘‘other 
fellow’s point of view.’’ 

Criticism should be constructive and forward-looking. 
As has been stated elsewhere criticism is not mere fault- 
finding. In general, it is unwise to tear down unless there 


168 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


are available better methods to suggest. To say that a pro- 
cedure is wrong without offering a better one is to add dis- 
couragement to bad practice. The teacher who finds her 
lessons torn to pieces and who is left without any construc- 
tive suggestions will be both discouraged and resentful un- 
less she is remarkably independent and resourceful. 

There are occasions, rare to be sure, when the teacher 
needs freeing from a detrimental practice or habit, so 
erroneous that anything else would be better. Then 
perhaps a negative suggestion unaccompanied by definite 
constructive substitution is justified. Merely to stop or 
prevent the repetition of the bad practice is constructive. 

In looking to the future, the teacher should not merely be 
told what to do and how to doit. This will better teaching 
but not necessarily better the teacher. The teacher may 
become but an agency through which the supervisor raises 
the level of instruction. Too many teachers have been 
trained in this way to depend upon and to expect specific 
directions even in minor details. Morrison reports that of 
twenty-eight teachers queried, only three asked for super- 
visory assistance of a type which would help them grow. 
Ten asked for more specific plans or methods, six for more 
definite outlines of work to be done, five asked for better 
group meetings in which more specific directions might be 
given. 

It should not be overlooked, of course, that minute and 
specific directions are in some instances necessary and desir- 
able. This has been discussed earlier in the chapter. 

Criticism may be adverse and severe. With all our em- 
phasis on tact, kindness, and sympathy, we must not over- 
look the fact that sometimes criticism which is adverse 
and rather severe is not only legitimate but neces- 
sary. To be anything less than unmistakably adverse and 
severe would be dishonest or cowardly. A consistently 
shirking teacher must be told ‘‘to get busy or get out.’? A 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE |. 169 


whining teacher who cannot see why others are promoted 
while she remains behind must have the superior work of 
the others pointed out to her clearly and concretely through 
a comparison of her own weak points or lack of professional 
interest. A cranky, irritable individual should be advised, 
if not specifically ordered, to have a thorough physical ex- 
amination, plus an honest inspection of recreational habits, 
mode of living, ete. The person who boasts that she ‘‘says 
what she thinks,’’ should in some eases be advised to be sure 
that she really thinks before she speaks. The experienced 
teacher who feels that her methods are satisfactory despite 
the fact that she has had no training for many years, should 
be asked to teach a demonstration lesson before the group 
and convince them in discussion afterwards that she is 
really getting the results claimed. The supervisor should 
give every one the benefit of the doubt as long as possible 
and should be most careful in deciding that a teacher needs 
sharp reproof, but when convinced that she does, no false 
ideas should prevent him from delivering it in unmistakable 
terms. 

Criticism should lead to self-analysis and self-criticism. 
Properly handled, the forward-looking conference will lead 
the teacher to the evaluation of her own lessons, and to pro- 
gressive self-improvement. By skillful questions the super- 
visor can teach the teacher how to study classroom technique 
as he himself does it ; how to search for and recognize major 
elements of strength and weakness; how to work out and 
apply remedial measures. That is, the teacher can be led 
to use the same devices, check lists, and analyses which the 
supervisor uses. 

For instance, after a teacher has opened up a new topic 
with her pupils, making more or less elaborate group and 
individual assignments, she might sit down with the super- 
visor to talk over her procedure in terms of an outline deal- 
ing with assignments. This outline is an impersonal affair 


170 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


which asks questions or makes statements bearing upon 
right and wrong technique in assigning. Much of the awk- 
wardness and embarrassment due to the fear of a clash of 
opinion is done away with. The teacher may open and 
lead the discussion herself. There will be difference of 
opinion, of course, and vigorous discussion, but it will be 
initiated by an impartial and impersonal statement in the 
outline. By means of such discussions, criticism will not 
only assist the teacher but will lead her to self-help. 

Criticism must be discriminating. As has been stated 
above, a commendatory criticism which is not based upon 
fact accomplishes nothing. It very often destroys the 
teacher’s confidence in the supervisor. Even if the work is 
good and commendation justified, it is often given in vague 
and general terms. This also accomplishes little. Some 
there are who feel that a ‘‘good atmosphere’’ is engendered 
by kind remarks, compliments, and a general commendatory 
tone. Quite so, but there is no place in supervision for the 
Pollyanna who scatters sunshine wherever she goes. Su- 
pervision must be kindly and sympathetic, but none the 
less exact, definite, and scientific. 

Likewise negative criticisms which are vague and gen- 
eral are valueless. Even worse are negative criticisms 
which are neither accompanied by actual factual evidence 
nor made in terms of recognized standards. If in addition 
these criticisms are delivered in a harsh and dictatorial way, 
the situation is practically hopeless. Contrasted with the 
individual who feels called upon to be unduly genial and 
commendatory, we have the individual who feels that au- 
thority, to be respected, should be exercised in a cold, inflex- 
ible, and unyielding manner. But just as there is no place 
for Pollyanna scattering sunshine, neither is there a place 
for the ogre striking fear to all hearts because of his sharp, 
direct criticisms and reproofs delivered as if feelings, tem- 
peraments, personalities did not exist. 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 171 


To summarize, criticism must be careful and discriminat- 
ing, adapted to the time, place, situation, personality, and 
problem in hand. Few things a supervisor can do will so 
engender confidence as to make careful, exact statements 
concerning teaching technique, citing as evidence specific 
occurrences and episodes of the classroom, and using well- 
known, recognized standards of judgment. 

The supervisor is an active constructive leader. The in- 
dividual who conceives of the supervisory job as done when 
he has checked 4,976 squares on a series of teacher rating 
eards, and filled in 794 columns or filed 257 reports each 
month is an inspector and timekeeper, not a supervisor. 
Rather, the supervisor must be judged by the number of 
creative, stimulating suggestions which he makes, and by 
the confidence he begets in the teaching corps. 

The conference should be professionalin character. If a 
physician after a careful physical examination should tell 
a teacher who consulted him that she had a weak spine, 
she would thank him, pay a high fee perhaps, and very 
probably take immediate steps to care for the weakness. 
If a school supervisor after a careful pedagogical examina- 
tion should tell the same teacher that her discipline was 
spineless she might or might not thank him, might or might 
not take steps to remedy the weakness. Why the difference? 

Of course the two eases are not exactly parallel. The 
physician renders service in response to a call, the super- 
visor (usually) on his own initiative. The patient requests 
the diagnosis from the physician, she receives it willy-nilly 
from the supervisor. ‘Some school systems have so far 
recognized the parallel, however, as to place supervision on 
a service basis, assistance being given in response to eall. 
The patient may or may not follow the directions of the 
physician, the teacher is more or less obliged to heed the 
directions of the supervisor. Probably the chief difference 
between the two cases is that the patient seeks in the physi- 


172 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


cian an expert in a field more or less unknown to the pa- 
tient. The teacher sees in the supervisor a worker in her 
own field possessed of skills and knowledges quite similar to 
her own. There are other faults in the parallel, but are the 
two situations so far apart in reality? Should not super- 
vision be on the same high professional plane as other 
expert services? 

The fact remains that it is not. Physicians, lawyers, 
engineers, landscape artists, and architects, as a rule, enjoy 
the confidence and respect of the public. The educational 
specialist is not always so respected. There are, of course, 
striking individual exceptions to both these statements, but 
in the main they are correct. An examination of the rea- 
sons for this situation supplies guidance for supervision. 

The first-named specialists have won respect by demon- 
strated success and efficiency. The public in general feels 
that their work is complicated and technical, requiring 
much skill and ability, plus long rigorous special training. 
It does not know or will not admit the same things for 
special phases of education. The immense strides made in 
the science of education have not as yet permeated the 
thinking of the average citizen to any great degree. A 
large proportion of the teaching body is not as well informed 
as it might be. To the extent that the public in general and 
the teaching body in particular become better informed in 
regard to the technical nature of the supervisor’s work, and 
the skill and training necessary, to that extent will the field 
and its workers receive the respect due them. To the extent 
also that supervision and supervisors can present unques- 
tioned evidence of the worth and success of their work, to 
that extent also will their diagnoses and remedial prescrip- 
tions be received as the utterances of competent professional 
experts. 

But this must wait upon the long and slow revision of 
publie opinion. While the supervisor should work toward 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 173 


this end by all the means, direct and indirect, at his com- 
mand, he should at the same time busy himself with the 
more immediate problems of raising the conference to a 
professional level. No better formula can be given than the 
one cited a few paragraphs back: maintain an attitude 
which is kindly and sympathetic, and at the same time im- 
partial, objective, and scientific; base criticisms upon care- 
ful study, objective data, impersonal reasons; make those 
criticisms encouraging, sound, and constructive. 

One other feature of the professional interview between 
a physician or lawyer and his clients can supply valuable 
guidance for the supervisor. The physician regards as 
inviolate statements made to him. What passes between a 
lawyer and his client is a ‘‘privileged communication’’ and 
not even the court can require that either party divulge 
what was said. Again the cases are not exactly parallel 
but the guidance for the supervisor is that he avoid quot- 
ing one teacher to another, avoid discussing one teacher 
with another. The supervisor, to be sure, must encourage 
discussion of teaching difficulties and points of excellence; 
direct comparisons are often excellent means of illustrat- 
ing a point. But the supervisor must be sharply on guard 
against being drawn into injudicious quotations, into gossip, 
or careless discussion of one teacher with another. <A cer- 
tain type of teacher seems to thrive on back-fence gossip 
and a supervisor can ruin forever his opportunity for help- 
fulness by being drawn into the discussions which go on. 
Care exercised on this point can do much to raise super- 
visory conferences to a high professional level. 

The follow-up conference. The emphasis in the fore- 
going material has been upon the isolated and individual 
conference. While many of these will be used, the present 
tendency is to plan a series of such conferences in which 
certain problems are consistently and systematically pur- 
sued. Such a series of follow-up conferences may be to 


174 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


correct certain weaknesses manifested by a teacher or group 
of teachers; for the purpose of assisting a superior teacher 
with original or experimental work; for the purpose of 
adjusting new teachers tothe system; ete. 

Obviously if visitation and conference are definitely 
scheduled as a part of the general program of supervision, 
the bulk of conference will be consecutive in nature and 
partake of the follow-up type. All that has been said con- 
cerning the individual conference and criticism holds for 
the follow-up. The added emphasis will be upon a con- 
tinuous system of reports, definite checking on suggestions 
given, and upon the systematic pursuit of the special objec- 
tives. 

The system of supervisory reports used should show defi- 
nitely the sequence of suggestions made, the use or lack of 
use of them made by the teacher, and the progress or lack of 
progress in the ease. 

Elaborate and. detailed discussion of the follow-up con- 
ference, together with stenographie reports of case studies, 
will be found in Visiting the Teacher at Work.** This con- 
erete material should be studied without fail in connection 
with the statement of general principle given here. 

The pre-teaching conference. There are two types of 
pre-teaching conference: first, the conference dealing with 
specific teaching techniques; second, the conference dealing 
with specific lessons. These conferences are usually integral 
parts of a program of directed teaching (see Chap. XI). 

An excellent procedure to follow in stimulating discus- 
sion of specific teaching techniques is to place in the hands 
of the teacher a set of standards for judging and improv- 
ing the quality of elementary school teaching. 

Often beginning teachers, and not infrequently experi- 
enced teachers, are weak in lesson planning. The absolute 


14 Anderson, Barr, and Bush, op. cit., chaps. v, vi, and vii. 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 175 


necessity for planning, the economical methods of doing it, 
and the benefits of it should be made clear. That kind of 
lessson planning should be emphasized which works pro: 
oressively toward a minimum of formal written planning, 
and which gives the teacher the ability to plan lessons easily 
and psychologically. The outline given below will be found 
suggestive. The disadvantages and dangers of an elaborate 
and inflexible system of planning should be pointed out. 
After lessons have been planned, the teacher should under- 
stand that the organization is not a rigid thing to be adhered 
to strictly. The purpose of planning is to organize material 
into teachable form and also to make sure that the teacher 
has been through the subject matter at least once from the 
teaching point of view. <As facility is gained, plans will be 
reduced to a few notes on a card. Many teachers never 
make notes for their teaching, but they have either acquired 
the ability to plan mentally or they are poor teachers. A 
supervisor will often ask to see a teacher’s plan. He has 
the right to require of any beginning or weak teacher fairly 
definite detailed plans open to his inspection at any time. 
Experienced teachers whose work is eminently satisfactory 
should not be required to keep such plan books. They can 
usually discuss any point the supervisor raises because the 
lesson plan is well in mind. 


Lesson PLan Ovriine 2 
I. Subject matter: 
A. The teacher’s aim: 
(a) General: General topic being studied. 
(b) Specific: Part involved in this lesson. 
B. What is to be taught. (Give here a list, outline, or 
brief of the subject matter for the lesson.) 
(a) Old knowledge. Material already known to pu- 
pils, and which will be used in introducing 
the aim or setting up the problem. 


| 435 -W. H. Burton, op. cit., p. 336. 


176 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


(b) New knowledge. The material to be learned. 

C. List sources and references used, both by the teacher 
in preparation and those to which pupils will be re- 
ferred. Note tools and materials that will be neces- 
sary and that must be ready for the lesson. 


II. Method: 

Write out in some detail your procedure in teaching this 
lesson. Use the formal lesson steps where they are of 
help but disregard them if they interfere. Include both 
questions you will ask and the answers you expect. Make 
prominent the introduction of the pupils’ aim; show 
how you expect to provide for possible wrong answers 
likely to come up; how you will introduce new ma- 
terial; summarize; provide drill; stimulate thought; how 
you will make the assignment; ete. In short indicate in 
this part of the lesson plan about what you expect to 
do and say while before the class. 


Many systems of lesson planning provide for a two-col- 
umn arrangement, subject matter on one side and method 
on the other. In print this may be very orderly and proper 
but most students find it a cumbersome and confusing 
method of writing plans. Those individuals who prefer it 
should by all means be encouraged to use it. 

Summary. As stated in earlier chapters supervision is 
much more than classroom visitation and conference, 
These latter activities are vital, but constitute but one fune- 
tion of supervision. They are necessary in the diagnostic 
stages; they function also in carrying out remedial pro- 
grams. For purposes of ready reference the following sum- 
mary outlines will be found of value. They are from vari- 
ous sources and undertake to present in compact form the 
lengthy and involved topic just discussed in this chapter. 

Summary concerning visitation. The routine factors per- 
taining to classroom visitation discussed above need to be 
as carefully planned and administered as any of the other 
phases of the supervisor’s work. Many otherwise efficient 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 177 


and inspiring supervisors seriously handicap their own 
work by lack of attention to ‘‘machinery.’’ Fussy red tape 
should unquestionably be avoided but a certain amount of 
routine organization is necessary. The necessary points 
may be summarized in brief, concise form for purpose of 
easy reference: 


GENERAL Poticy 18 


1. A schedule of visits should be prepared. 

(a) This should be a part of the general program of 
supervision, and serve the ends of this program. 

(b) This should be mimeographed or printed and an- 
nounced to all concerned. 

2. A mechanism for receiving and caring for visits on eall 
should be provided. 

3. Supervisors and principals should feel free to do much 
informal, frequent, unannounced visitation in caring for 
the special cases. 

4, Visitation should begin early in the term and be carried on 
consistently in terms of the schedule and with due allow- 
ance for individual cases and needs. 


THE VISITATION OF THE ROOM 


1. Entering and leaving the room should be as quiet as pos- 
sible. Remain as inconspicuous as possible while in the 
room. 

(a) Usually it is better to sit behind the pupils. Pref- 
erence of the teacher should be consulted. 

(6) Avoid taking notes in the room unless the teacher 
states that she is not disturbed in any way by so 
doing. Make notes without fail as soon afterwards 
as opportunity presents. 

2. As a rule do not step in and take the class unless asked 
to do so by the teacher. 

(a) Try to build up such an understanding with those 
under your supervision that they will call upon you 
if they are in difficulties. 





16 W. H. Burton, op. cit., pp. 415-16. 


178 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


(b) Always ask the teacher’s permission to break into a 
recitation, even with a single question. If you 
desire to take the class always let the pupils feel 
that you have full confidence in the teacher, and 
that you continually refer to her as in full control. 

(c) A question or two may be asked at the end of the 
class hour if opportunity is given. 

(d) Help may be given with seat work or hand work. 

(e€) Demonstration lessons should be given frequently, 
preferably a regular lesson from the course of 
study. Consult the teacher’s preference in most 
cases; in others give what she is obviously in need 
of. Such lessons should be carefully planned and 
discussed fully afterwards. It is usually best to 
leave the room after teaching a demonstration, 
particularly before new or beginning teachers, since 
they will often be embarrassed in resuming the 
work in your presence. 

3. Except when quite impossible, supervisor’s visits should coin- 
cide with recitation periods,as indicated on the posted 
program. 

(a) Preferably the supervisor should see several whole 
lessons. 

(6) When brief visits are unavoidable, they should be 
numerous and distributed over a length of time. 

(c) Special supervisors should conform to the teacher’s 
daily program, or arrange one nearly in accord 
with it and give proper and sufficient advance 
notice. 


The following list of specific suggestions is copied from 
an outline used in one of Dr. W. S. Gray’s classes at the 
University of Chicago: 


MetHops of MAKING VISITS PROFITABLE TO TEACHERS 


1. During the hour of visit 
(a) Expressing confidence in teacher’s plans and pur- 
poses 
(6) Encouraging teachers by favorable comments 
(c) Pointing out strong and weak points in teaching, and 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE ight 


giving helpful suggestions whenever they are nec- 
essary 

(ad) Giving specific suggestions such as, “Do not talk so 
much during silent study periods. Give pupils an 
opportunity to work” 

‘e) Leaving written summaries of suggestions with 
teachers 

(f) Filing a checked record blank with the teacher 

(g) Asking pupils summary questions at the end of the 
recitation, thereby determining strong and weak 
points in teaching 

(h) Suggesting experiments or general changes in 
methods 

(7) Suggesting devices for economizing time and effort 

2. As follow-up devices after the visit 

(a) Detailed conferences with individual teachers 

(6) Group conferences on general teaching problems 

(c) Bulletins of suggestions to teachers 

(ad) Helpful articles, books, and materials sent to teachers 

(e) Bibliographies provided on one or more problems 

(f) Demonstration lessons to illustrate effective teaching 

(g) Visits by teacher to other classrooms for suggestions 

(h) Reorganizing classes when necessary 


The points regarding conference may well be summarized 
in brief, concise form for purposes of easy reference: ** 


THE CONSULTATION WITH THE TEACHER 


1. During the observation and consultation the supervisor must 
preserve the impersonal, objective, scientific attitude. 
(Suspended judgment and open-mindedness. ) 

(a) Compliment what is good, giving reasons why. Give 
eredit for ideas that are new. [Recognition of 
work well done makes adverse criticism easier 
when it is necessary. | 

(b) Discuss all errors and corrections on impersonal, 
scientific grounds. Dispose of errors by giving 
pedagogical and psychological arguments and by 





17 W. H. Burton, op. cit., pp. 416-17. 


180 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


supplying the correct procedure. Avoid use of “I” 
and “you.” 

(c) Correct one error at a time. Differentiate between 
errors of routine and the more important ones of 
teaching procedure, or professional attitude. 

(d) When a teacher persists in a procedure that is clearly 
wrong, the supervisor must insist tactfully but 
none the less firmly that the correct procedure be 
given full and fair trial. 

2. While the impersonal attitude must prevail in viewing and 
discussing the teacher’s work, there should be a kindly 
tact and sympathy manifested which will assist in putting 
the teacher at ease and in furthering the purposes of 
the consultation. 

(a) The supervisor must expect to win the confidence 
and codperation of his teachers much as the teacher 
wins the same things from the children. 

3. The supervisor must distinguish between his functions as a 
judge and rater of teaching, and as an assistant in better- 
ing teaching. 

4. In making final judgments and important recommendations, 
apart from the everyday consultation, there must be a 
careful balance of the scientific and the personal factors. 
(a) The polities, religion, “temperamental reactions,” ete., 

of either teacher or supervisor are not legitimate 
elements in supervisory or administrative discus- 
sions. 

(b) Specifically, this means that a teacher should not be 
condemned for other things than pedagogical 
faults. On the other hand, she should not be tol- 
erated in the system when she cannot or will not 
adapt herself to recognized and clearly demon- 
strable pedagogical procedures. 

5. The consultations, except on very minor points, should not 
take place in the presence of the pupils. 

(a) Whenever possible they should not take place imme- 
diately, but after supervisor and teacher have had 
a chance to think over the details. 

(6) The consultation should be unhurried, should come 
at a time when both parties are free and not tired. 

(c) It should be in the nature of a give and take discus- 
sion, and not a monologue by either party. 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 181 


A more comprehensive statement of the technique of 
eriticism follows: 1% 


TECHNIQUE OF CRITICISM 


I. Getting the Facts: 

1. Make criticisms only after a careful observation and 
analysis (diagnosis) of the teacher’s work. 

2. Make criticisms only in terms of definite standards 
known in advance by the one whose teaching is 
being judged. 

3. Remember that there are often several right ways of 
doing a thing. Do not mistake your way for the 
right way. Everything else being equal, the teacher 
is right. 

4. Find out what the teacher had in mind to do and to 
what extent she thinks she has succeeded in doing 
it. Probably the teacher knows where the lesson 
fell short and will ask for assistance. 

5. Ascertain purposes and motives back of action. Fail- 
ure to do this leads to misunderstandings. The 
teacher will say, “If I could have gotten the super- 
visor to see the thing as it was, he would have 
approved.” 

6. Settle definitely for yourself that the thing that you 
are about to ask for is what you really want. Occa- 
sionally a supervisor will ask for a socialized reci- 
tation with pupils marching in rigid line or with 
complete teacher domination. 

7. Get such information as is necessary without resort- 
ing to rapid-fire third-degree methods. 

8. Be a good listener. Let the teacher state her diffi- 
culties. People like to talk when given an oppor- 
tunity. 

II. Establishing Proper Attitudes: 

1. Create a congenial starting point. Look about for 
a point of common interest. Treat the teacher as a 
sensible man or woman. 

2. Arouse the teacher’s interest. ae her so that 
she wants assistance. 


1s Anderson, Barr, and Bush, op. cit., pp. 51-54. 


182 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


3. Set the teacher at ease. Assure yourself that she is 
thinking of the things that you have in mind. 
Probably some incident that occurred just prior to 
your arrival is uppermost in her thoughts. 

4. Get the teacher’s point of view. Put yourself in her 
place. Imagine how she feels. Picture her mental 
condition. See the problem as she sees it. 

5. Avoid a possible center of soreness. Do not tactlessly 
blunder into difficulties. 


Jil. The Kinds of Criticism to Make: 

1. Criticism of the teacher’s work should be painstak- 
ingly fair, unbiased and unprejudiced. The super- 
visor must have a reputation for fair and courteous 
treatment of teachers. 

2. Make criticisms definite, clear cut and specific. What 
may appear clear to the supervisor may be mere 
abstractions to the teacher. 

3. Locate elements of strength. Bring out the best there 
is in the teacher’s work. Create self-confidence. 

4, Center criticism upon the technique of teaching rather 
than upon the personal shortcomings of the teacher. 

5. Make criticisms according to a definite logical plan 
for the improvement of the teacher’s technique. 
Take one step at a time. 

6. Weigh values. Center criticism upon the outstanding 
points of the recitation. “To miss the point’ or to 
offer a trivial criticism will aS lose the respect 
of the thoughtful teacher. 

7. Make commendatory remarks specific. Criticism can 
be commendatory, discriminating, and definite. In- 
stead of saying that the lesson is good, say that 
skill was shown in stimulating pupil interest, the 
use of illustrations was effective, ete. 

8. Distinguish between essentials and non-essentials. Do 
not squabble over details. 

9. Express a friendly interest in the teacher’s success. 
Be alert to specific improvements in teaching. 

10. Criticisms of the teacher’s work should be construc- 
tive. Mere fault-finding or tearing down of a 
teacher’s work without something better to offer is 
inexcusable. 


IV. How 


ue 


13. 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 183 


to Make Criticisms: 

Criticism should be given in a true sense of helpful- 
ness to the teacher. Make service the ideal. Con- 
duct yourself in such a manner as to inspire in the 
teacher a feeling that you can be depended upon for 
wise and kindly counsel. 


. Take the position of a learner. Do not let your atti- 


tude suggest master and servant. 


. Be infinitely patient. Allow time for growth. The 


evolution of good teaching is a long, slow process. 


. Do not rush through the interview. Better wait an- 


other day than to create positive antagonism. 


. Do not appeal to authority. The thing should be 


done because it is right and not because it must. 


. Respect the other person’s feelings. The brutally 


frank are cruelly disrespectful of the other person’s 
feelings. Say what must be said as an individual 
might rationalize about it. 


. Where shortcomings must be pointed out, point out 


one at a time. The teacher is bewildered and dis- 
couraged by a fusillade of criticism. 


. Oceasionally criticism must be positive, direct and 


unmistakably plain. For example, a_ shirking 
teacher must be told to “get busy or get out.” 


. Make criticism informal, incidental and by the way, 


when possible. 


. Make criticisms suggestive, and indirect when pos- 


sible. For example, interest the teacher in a book 
on “the art of questioning.” 


. Make criticisms in a courteous, business-like, friendly 


conversational tone. 


. Do not say: “You have failed.” Set situations skil- 


fully which will lead the teacher to discover her 
own strong points and to develop them and her 
shortcomings and to remedy them. 

Personalities and temperaments will differ widely. 
Make criticisms accordingly. 


V. Results Desired: 


ES 


2. 


Stimulate the teacher to self-analysis; self-criticisms, 
and self-improvement. 
Criticism should encourage initiative, independence, 


184 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


and responsibility on the part of the teacher. There 
is nothing more deadening than the rigid adherence 
to mandatory plans. 

3. Strive for the proper attitude on the part of the 
teacher. No teacher should be able to say: “You 
ean’t do anything to please her.” 

4. Criticism should lead the teacher to see the importance 
of her work, and the dignity of teaching. 

5. Study the reactions of other people to your remarks. 
Strive for a better technique. Many people are 
most stupid in their observance of human reactions 
and quite impervious to obvious indications of what 
other persons think. 

6. Where there are honest differences of opinion, experi- 
ment, strive honestly for a scientific attitude. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


. Anperson, C. J., Barr, A. §8., and Busu, Maybell, Vis- 


iting the Teacher at Work (D. Appleton & Co., 1925). 
Excellent concrete discussion. Case studies and steno- 
graphic reports. (Much of the case material is available 
in the Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 3, Dec., 1923; 
Jan., Feb., March, 1924.) 


. ARNOLD, Sarah L., “Duties and Privileges of Supervisors,” 


Proceedings of the National Education Association, 1898, 
pp. 228-36. An early discussion containing many good 
suggestions. 


. Bossirt, Franklin, “The Supervision of City Schools,” 


Twelfth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of 
Education (Public School Publishing Co., 1913). 


. Brooks, 8S. L., “Supervision as Viewed by the Supervised,” 


Proceedings of the National Edueation Association, 1897, 
pp. 225-32. An excellent discussion anticipating many 
things accepted to-day. 


. Burton, W. H., Supervision and the Improvement of Teach- 


ing (D. Appleton & Co., 1922), Chap. XVII. 


. CARRIGAN, Rose, “Rating of Teachers on the Basis of Super- 


visory Visitation,” Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 2, 
Sept., 1922, pp. 48-55. 


. CuBBERLEY, EK. P., The Principal and His School (Houghton 


Mifflin Co., 1923). A good discussion, Chap. XXIT. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


Le 


18. 


19. 


20. 


21. 


22. 


VISITATION AND CONFERENCE 185 


. Dorsry, Susan M., “Supervision as Liberating the Teacher,” 


Proceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 
55, 1917, pp. 239-43. 

, “Relations of the Superintendent of Schools to the 
Teaching Staff,” Proceedings of the National Education 
Association, Vol. 62, 1924, pp. 869-75. 





. Fraster, Ben W., “The Human Factor in Supervision,” 


School Board Journal, Vol. 69, Nov., 1924, pp. 35 ff. 


. GRAy, Olive, “Supervision as a Joint State and Local Un- 


dertaking,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 23, March, 

1923, pp. 504-16. Excellent. 

, “The Professionalization of the Teaching Staff,’ 
Elementary School Journal, Vol. 26, Nov., 1925, pp. 174- 
85. Very good. 

Gray, V,. §., “The Work of the Elementary School Prin- 
cipals,” Hlementary School Journal, Vol. 19, Sept., 1918, 
pp. 24-35. Good summary of elements in criticism. 

» “Methods of Improving the Technique of Teach- 
ing,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, Dec., 1919, pp. 
263-75. 

GREENWOOD, J. M., “How to Judge a School,” Educational 
Review, Vol. 17, April, 1899, pp. 334-45. Good discussion 
of visiting. 

Hatz, J. W., “Supervision of Beginning Teachers in Cin- 
einnati,” Twelfth Yearbook of the National Society for the 
Study of Education, Part I, (Public School Publishing Co., 
1913). Actual reports of visitation and conference, pp. 
97-105. Valuable. 

Keyes, Rowena, “Vision and Supervision,” The Journal of 
Education, Vol. 1, May, 1922, p. 348. Plea for sympa- 
tnetic understanding and freedom from prejudice. 

MAxwe tt, C. R., “Effective Supervision,” School and So- 
ciety, Vol. 11, Feb. 21, 1920, pp. 214-17. 

, The Observation of Teaching (Houghton Mifflin Co., 
1917). 

McMorry, F. M., Hlementary School Standards (World 
Book Co., 1914). 

Minor, Ruby, “A Case Study in Supervision,” Hducational 
Adminstration and Supervision, Vol. 7, May, 1921, pp. 
241-54. Excellent account of supervisory conference. 

Morrison, J. Cayce, “Methods of Improving Classroom In- 
struction Used by Helping Teachers in New Jersey,” Ele- 











186 


23. 
24. 
25. 
26. 
27. 


28. 


30. 


ol. 


33. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


mentary School Journal, Vol. 29, Nov., 1919, pp. 208-16. 
Valuable discussion of efficient and inefficient devices. 
National Society for the Study of Education, Eighteenth 
Yearbook, Part II (Public School Publishing Co., 1919). 

Valuable material for use in judging instruction. 

Nort, H. W., The Supervision of Instruction (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1920). Discussion of visitation, pp. 199-213. 
Good, common sense discussion. 

Pirrman, M. S., The Value of School Supervision (Warwick 
& York, 1921). Discusses rural supervision but devices 
equally applicable to city supervision. 

Power, L., “How to Make Visits Profitable to Teachers,” 
First Yearbook of the Department of Elementary School 
Principals, National Education Association, 1922, pp. 7-11. 

Ruae, George, “Visitation as a Means of Diagnosis,” First 
Yearbook of the Department of Elementary School Prin- 
cipals, National Education Association, 1922, pp. 7-11. 

WacGner, C. A., Common Sense in School Supervision (Bruce 
Publishing Co., 1921). Many helpful suggestions scat- 
tered through the book. 

—, “Supervision of Instruction,’ Hducational Review, 
Vol. 59, Feb., 1920, pp. 137-41. Good discussion of atti- 

tudes in criticism. 

WIENAND, C. M., “Supervision by Remote Control,” School 
Board Journal, July, 1925, p. 36. Discusses supervision 
by radio. 

Wiuson, H. B., “Effects of Unnecessary Restraints Placed 
upon Teachers,” Hlementary School Journal, Vol. 26, Nov., 
1925, pp. 224-26. 





. YAWBERG, A. G., “Part of the County Superintendent in 


Rural School Supervision,” Proceedings of the National 
Education Association, Vol. 61, pp. 772-79. Good examples 
of brief reports on visitation and conference. 

, ‘Instructional Supervision with the Announced Visit 
as an Important Factor,’ School Review, Vol. 31, Dec., 
1923, pp, 763-76, An excellent article. 





CHAPTER VII 


THE IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHING THROUGH BETTER SELECTION 
AND ORGANIZATION OF SUBJECT MATTER 


Curriculum construction is at the present writing be- 
lieved to be the largest, most important, and most engross- 
ing problem in education. The determination of the sub- 
ject matter of education, from trivial detail to basic funda- 
mental is under analysis. 

As Charters states, ‘‘The school curriculum is the latest 
great social agency to feel the effect of the theory of evolu- 
tion.’’ Biology and the social sciences long since accepted 
this basie doctrine and ordered their processes accordingly. 
The school curriculum. has lagged behind, chiefly for two 
reasons: 7 


The force of the evolutionary theory has been negatived by the 
strength of the doctrine of the transfer of training and by the 
prestige of the scientist. It has been held that the training of 
the faculties could be secured by already existing forms of sub- 
ject matter and that change in structure should therefore be 
resisted. To add to this conviction, the prestige of the scientist 
induced the lowly school teacher to believe that a structure built 
in conformity with his needs was equally suitable and satisfactory 
for the needs of the layman. 


Of course the subject matter of education received eriti- 
cism and was changed from time to time long before the 


1 From W. W. Charters, Curriculum Construction ‘p. vii. Reprinted 
by permission of the Macmillan Co., publishers. 


187 


188 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


evolutionary point of view made its influence felt. Sharp 
strictures upon the content of education are to be found in 
very ancient documents. From the time of Rousseau on, 
criticism has been more or less continuous and vigorous. 
Spencer’s famous essay ‘‘ What Knowledge Is the Most 
Worth’’ may be mentioned in passing. Within the last 
quarter century the criticisms have increased in number 
and directness; within the last decade considerable con- 
structive work has been accomplished. 

It is easy to see how education and life tend to grow 
apart, necessitating constant vigilance to keep them funce- 
tionally related. With early man life was simple, and 
education was a process of actual participation in the life 
of the group. All the ways of thinking, feeling, and acting 
—specifically, the activities involved in securing food, cloth- 
ing, and shelter, in protecting the tribe, in trading and 
barter, and so forth, were passed on from generation to 
generation. Subject matter in those days was life. It was 
a closely interwoven whole and not a series of units as 
to-day. 

But as civilization progressed, life became more and more 
complex. There was more and more to be learned and 
transmitted. Not only did the simple, practical activities 
of everyday life become more diverse and complex, but 
folklore, religion, a simple philosophy grew up. Knowledge 
of these was deemed essential for the safety of the indi- 
vidual and of the tribe. 

Another stage came when the mass of material became 
too unwieldy and cumbersome for memory and had to be 
written down in erude picture language on skins, leaves, 
parchments, and so forth. This was the beginning of the 
textbook. As soon as material is written down, it becomes, 
of necessity, somewhat fixed. It cannot keep pace with 
social changes or adapt itself quickly to new conditions. 
Civilization and life keep up their onward march, however; 


SUBJECT MATTER 189 


old conditions change, activities drop out, new ones come 
in. There are with every generation new relationships to 
be adjusted, new discoveries and inventions that vitally 
change modes of living. But since written subject matter 
could not keep pace with these changes, we have had, from 
ancient times to the present, upheavals in which school cur- 
riculums have been violently attacked and radically changed. 
At the present time we are undergoing what is probably the 
most fundamental and thorough reorganization of the sub- 
ject matter of education. A National Education <Associa- 
tion research bulletin ? contains a list of 889 city, county, 
and state elementary courses of study, totaling 52,272 
pages which have been published since January 1, 1923. 
This bulletin does not attempt to list all the courses that were 
published, merely those coming to the library of the asso- 
ciation. 

Selection of subject matter an important means of train- 
ing teachers in service. Curriculum construction may be 
viewed as an end in itself or as a means of improving teach- 
ing in service. The two purposes of studying the selection 
of subject matter should not be lost sight of. As a means of 
improving teachers in service the superintendent in a city 
of twenty-five thousand proceeded about as follows: (1) 
held with his teachers individual and group conferences 
relative to the needs of curriculum construction; (2) or- 
ganized teachers, principals, and supervisors into curricu- 
lum committees; (3) developed a definite plan of work, 
outlining the steps in course of study making; (4) held 
committee meetings and worked on courses of study; (5) 
provided a series of lectures by curriculum experts to the 
entire teaching corps; (6) held more committee meetings 
and worked on courses of study ; (7) directed many teachers 


2‘*Keeping Pace with the Advancing Curriculum,’’ Research Bul- 
letin of the National Education Association, Nos. 4 and 5 (double 
number), Sept. and Nov., 1925, pp. 182-92. 


199 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


to summer-school courses in curriculum construction; (8) 
developed tentative courses of study; (9) tested materials 
experimentally ; (10) visited teachers at work with the new 
course of study; (11) discussed problems of motivation, 
provision for individual differences, diagnosis, and so forth ; 
(12) measured the results. This is supervision. The word 
supervision was never used and the teachers were not con- 
scious of being supervised. But this is supervision in its 
more enlightened aspects. 

Standards for judging the teacher’s choice of subject 
matter. The selection of subject matter is a field unto 
itself. It is this work that is usually thought of when cur- 
riculum research is mentioned. Teachers, principals, and 
supervisors should be thcroughly acquainted with the 
numerous investigations of content. But the supervisor has 
a very immediate and somewhat different problem—as a 
matter of fact, two problems: (1) judging the teacher’s 
choice of subject matter; (2) improving the teacher’s 
choice of subject matter. Suppose, for example, that 
the supervisor walks into the classroom for the purpose 
of studying the teacher at work. Suppose further that the 
teacher’s selection of subject matter is singled out for spe- 
cial consideration. When isthe teacher’s selection of subject 
matter good? In general, the teacher’s selection of subject 
matter is good when the several items taught are those 
recommended by curriculum experts. But teachers, pupils, 
and communities differ. Thus teachers and supervisors 
need more direct assistance in the selection of subject 
matter. 

McMurry’s standards.* Several attempts have been 
made to set up criteria for selection of subject matter. 


3 Following are certain materials quoted with but slight change 
from W. H. Burton, Supervision and the Improvement of Teaching 
(D. Appleton & Co., 1922). 


SUBJECT MATTER 191 


MeMurry propounds four standards which will be found 
very valuable in viewing new subject matter or in critically 
evaluating old. He believes that all subject matter should: 
(1) make provision for motive on the part of the children; 
(2) give opportunity for the display of initiative by both 
teacher and pupil; (8) be organized coherently; (4) recog- 
nize the principle of relative values. 

He takes for granted that the subject matter must be in- 
trinsically worth while and useful. Beyond that, anything 
taught must take account of children’s interests, likes and 
dislikes, past experiences, and so forth, so that it will make 
an appeal and stimulate active attack. Closely related to 
this factor is the requirement that children and teachers 
must be allowed to react to this subject matter in terms of 
their individual capacities and purposes. Material ever so 
interesting as a field for individual experimentation and 
initiative becomes lifeless when all must do the same things 
in the same way. Since organization of ideas into coherent 
systems usable in real situations is a desired end, the mate- 
rial must avoid, in the first place, stress on isolated facts or 
series of unrelated ideas; it must be woven into a related 
functioning whole. Lastly, some parts of a subject or even 
whole subjects, quite valuable in themselves, must be left 
out of the organization or be given a minor place because 
other parts of the subject or other subjects are more valu- 
able when viewed from the point of social usage.* 

Parker’s principles. An even better organization of 
criteria will be found in either of Parker’s two texts® on 


4 An excellent discussion of these standards and their application 
to the New York City curriculum will be found in F. M. MeMurry’s 
Elementary School Standards. The wealth of specific illustration 
will be of valuable assistance for the supervisor. See especially 
pp. 79-172. 

58. C. Parker, General Methods of Teaching in Elementary Schdols 
(Ginn & Co., 1919), pp. 84-155; and Method of Teaching in High 
School (Revised 1920), pp. 50-93. 


192 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


general method. This author sets forth that subject mat- 
ter should be selected: (1) in relation to varying social 
needs; (2) in accord with the principle of relative values; 
(3) so that fewer topics are treated intensively instead of 
many extensively; (4) so that it is organized in terms of | 
the learner rather than in terms of the subject itself. 

The first principle is supplemented by the statements 
that social needs vary historically among communities, and 
within the same community. That is, subject matter that 
was very valuable long ago, Latin for instance, is not neces- 
sarily of value to-day; material that would be valuable in 
an agricultural course in eastern Oregon would not be so 
valuable in the heavily forested regions around Coos Bay 
in the western part; shop work that would be interesting 
and valuable in the industrial section of a large city would 
have small place in a school in the same city drawing its 
pupils from the business and professional classes. 

Selection of subject matter in accord with social needs. 
The expression ‘‘the three R’s’’ has come down to us from 
the day when the three subjects referred to practically con- 
stituted the field of elementary education. The inclusion 
from time to time of more history, of civics, manual train- 
ing, shop work, art, music, and so forth, are indications of 
the attempt of the school to keep pace with new social 
needs.°® 

Many processes in arithmetic, such as partial payments, 
compound proportion, cube root, troy and apothecary’s ecal- 





6 Space prohibits extended discussion of the many research studies 
made in the effort to select scientifically the content of the elementary 
curriculum. These studies have been collected and summarized in 
concise form in two sources which should be consulted since they 
give the detailed factual background for the general statements in 
our discussion. W. W. Charters, Curriculum Construction (The Mac- 
millan Co., 1923), pp. 169-334; the Third Yearbook of the Depart- 


ment of Superintendence, National Education Association, 1925, pp. 
35-366. 


SUBJECT MATTER 193 


culations are little used in life, and have been dropped from 
many textbooks and courses of study. On the other hand, 
space is given to commercial arithmetic, business methods 
of computing interest, modern calculating machines, and 
short cuts. The plotting of curves and graphs and the mak- 
ing of statistical tables and computations is within the 
grasp of intermediate and grammar-grade children, and 
such material is widely used in everyday life. In the upper 
orades, discussions of bank accounts, buying and selling 
small bonds, life insurance, house furnishing, and family 
budgets should replace much of the antiquated material on 
stocks and bonds and obsolete business procedure. The 
daily advertisements of department stores make good 
sources of problems involving percentage, fractions, buying 
and selling, and so forth. In rural communities farm arith- 
metic is receiving its share of attention. There is a decided 
social value in addition to arithmetical practice in discover- 
ing the actual cost of fire and police protection to the city, 
the ward, the precinct, the individual citizen. The cost of 
snow removal, the increased cost of street-car rides, will also 
furnish valuable material. The principle of relative values 
operates with the principle of social values in many cases. 

In history we see a shift from the usual accounts of wars 
and political administrations to discussion of industrial and 
commercial development. It is odd that in a democracy 
like the United States, dedicated to a political policy of 
anti-imperialism, spending but a small proportion of its 
time in fighting, it has taken so long to discover that the 
history material in the schools was largely purposeless. It 
is even more peculiar in the light of the tremendous eco- 
nomie advance that has characterized the development of 
this country. The development of natural resources, of 
transportation, of manufacturing, of commerce and trade, 
have practically made the United States what it is, but 
little mention is made of these things in the common school 


194 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


history. Every effort should be made to see that such ma- 
terial forms the bulk of history courses. In the lower 
grades a good start has already been made in substituting a 
study of local conditions and industries for discussions of 
ancient days. The latter phase of history can well wait 
until some understanding of the passage of time and of 
changing conditions of life has been acquired. 

Parker shows very clearly the necessity for a shift in 
emphasis from oral to silent reading in the intermediate 
and upper grades. Even in the lower grades there should 
be much silent reading. Time was when oral reading and 
oratory were socially indispensable, but to-day with its dif- 
ferent social conditions and its wealth of printed material 
demands the ability to read rapidly for thought content. 
When our almost complete dependence upon printed mat- 
ter for information upon which to base all our conclusions 
is realized, it is odd that training in silent reading has had 
such a hard fight for recognition. 

Civics has been added to the course because of the greater 
responsibility of the citizen in. a democracy and because of 
the elimination of religions from the schools as a basis of 
morals. The eontent of civies courses is undergoing a 
radical change even at the present. The old formal ma- 
terial regarding the form of government, the content of the 
state constitution, rules and regulations, and taxation 
schemes is giving place to a consideration of the specific 
duties of the citizen in his small political unit. Material 
dealing with the local problems of health work, fire protec- 
tion, water supply, civic beauty, slums and charity work 
should be selected in preference to discussions of the details 
of organization in the House of Representatives, the duties 
of the state supreme court, and the procedure in amending 
a state constitution. The direct primary and initiative and 
referendum have brought home very keenly to the average 
citizen his dense political ignorance and have supplied 


SUBJECT MATTER 195 


arguments for intelligent civic and political education in 
school. 

In the kindergarten we often see teachers following spe- 
cific Froebelian procedures that were developed in a small 
village many years ago. Why modern children should 
study intensively the organization of a medieval village, 
inhabited by peasants of a bygone generation, is not clear. 
Instead of charcoal burners and faggot gatherers it might 
be well to study the post man, the ash man, and the delivery 
boy. Automobiles, subways, elevated railroads, street cars, 
and auto-delivery systems would be far better than the 
industries of the ancient village. These suggested activities 
really embody Froebel’s basic principle of studying the 
child life about one better than do his own specific illustra- 
tions which were pertinent to a different situation. 

In nature study, lessons and material suitable for one 
region will be quite pointless in another. Sometimes the 
materials will even be unavailable. This subject illustrates 
very well the need for differing outlines and organizations 
within the same state or within the same large region. This 
does not mean that students in one region are to have no 
work dealing with the flowers and animals of a different 
locality. Pictures, stories, trips to botanical and zodlogical 
gardens should be used as extensively as conditions permit 
so that pupils may become reasonably familiar with regions 
other than their own. In this subject particularly, and in 
allied subjects, there is much opportunity for the exercise 
of judgment by teachers in selecting material suited to the 
community and season. <A rigid course of study in some 
instances calls for the study of wild flowers in January and 
of snow crystals in June. Large states might well write 
two or more outlines, each differing materially from the 
others, in order to accommodate different parts of the state. 

McMurry points out that in New York City schools, at 
the time of the survey in 1913, the reading was prescribed 


196 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


both in amount and time for the whole city. Obviously, the 
pupil population of such a city would differ as materially 
as do the populations of different sections of the United 
States, almost as much as do the populations of different 
countries. He shows the absurdity of supposing that read- 
ing material can be equally beneficial to children from the 
tenements, from the industrial sections, from Morningside 
Heights. Here we have an example, exaggerated perhaps, 
of the need of varying material within a community. The 
same point applies equally well to shop work, domestic sci- 
ence, millinery, and so forth. 

Selection of subject matter in accord with the principle 
of relative values. Spencer’s essay on ‘‘ What Knowledge 
Is Most Worth’’ is the classic statement of this principle, 
though it has been variously reémphasized by later writers. 
The gist of the principle is that because of the numerous 
social needs, the wealth of material, and the limited time 
available, we must select from subject matter, all of which 
may be valuable, those things which are most valuable for 
the particular children we are considering. The principle, 
of course, is closely related to the one just discussed and 
will overlap with the two to follow. 

In history, attention may be directed to the fact that 
ancient history, colonization, and early days receive far 
more time than their due, while the happenings of the last 
decade or the last generation are all too often passed over 
hurriedly in the last few days of the term. Obviously much 
recent history is more valuable than the details of colonial 
days. 

In geography, much time is often spent learning the 
capitals of all the state, and the boundaries of many coun- 
tries. Some teachers have attempted to justify the former 
on the vague argument of patriotism. If learning the state . 
capitals is patriotic, why not the county seats of all coun- 
ties in the home state; why not the names of all the gover- 


SUBJECT MATTER 197 


nors, the names of all who have introduced bills in Congress 
calling for monuments to our great men, and so forth? 
There is much else in geography concerning the products 
and industries of a region, the climate controls, the trans- 
portation systems, that is of greater value economically, 
and patriotically as well, which should have the time and 
attention now wasted on useless lists of city names and 
boundary lines. The tracing, not drawing, of outline maps, 
the filling in of printed maps, the marking of product or 
industry maps, are of real value and give the pupil a good 
general idea of regions and locations, in addition to intro- 
ducing him to the diverse conditions under which some 
staple products are produced. Home geography should be 
stressed and may be used sometimes in connection with his- 
tory stories dealing with local points of interest. 

In arithmetic, this principle and the foregoing one have 
worked hand in hand to eliminate much useless material. 
Mention was made of many eliminations in the preceding 
discussion. One more might be mentioned, in that many 
texts now present but one method of computing interest, 
instead of several confusing methods as formerly. 

Experimental research has contributed much to this 
field; in some of the formal skills, such as arithmetie and 
spelling, it is possible to say with some exactness what shall 
be taught and what omitted. Oldtime spellers required the 
mastery of long lists of difficult words, most of which are 
never used in written or spoken intercourse, whereas the 
newer books constructed in accord with the results of sci- 
entific inquiry, have reduced the number of words to be 
learned to between two and four thousand. In one study 
14,250,000 words were counted, using children’s composi- 
tions as the source, and it was found that there were but 
4,532 different words in all this number. The supervisor 
should be familiar with studies that have been made and 
be able to apply the findings. Much of the shift from 


198 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


formal grammar to language is in answer to emphasis upon 
relative values, though the fourth principle of organization 
in terms of the learner is also involved. The same is true 
of the shift from oral to silent reading, already mentioned 
under the previous principle. 

In hygiene and sanitation many states have required by 
law that instruction be given regarding the harmful effects 
of aleohol. It will be interesting to see how long after the 
enactment of the Prohibition Amendment this subject mat- 
ter will remain uselessly in the course. Anatomy already 
gets more than its share of time, whereas disease-prevention 
measures are slighted. There is little or no discussion of 
everyday menaces to health to be found in every town and 
city. A parent once descended upon a school in wrath be- 
cause his son reported that he had been sent out that morn- 
ing to count the manure piles between school and Main 
Street. The principal confirmed the report, and said that 
the next thing to be counted would be the open toilets and 
sewers around town. Following that there would be demon- 
strations, lantern slides, and discussions as to the dangers 
of such things:in a community. The local wells also would 
eome in for examination because they were held to be re- 
sponsible for the annual epidemic of typhoid, costing sev- 
eral lives each year. The resulting row between patron and 
school attracted the attention of the town council, and local 
commercial club, and resulted in a clean-up campaign to the 
great betterment of the town. The principal in question 
was slighting the textbook material on bones, muscles, and 
heart structure but was giving a striking example of select- 
ing subject matter in accord with social needs and relative 
values. 

The principle of relative values would indicate that em- 
phasis should be placed on care of the teeth and finger-nails, 
on bathing, on discussion of water supply, sewage disposal, 
covering of food offered for sale, and so forth, in preference 


SUBJECT MATTER Lek 


to learning the names of the bones oi the body, the struc- 
ture of the muscles, and the parts of the heart. 

Organization of subject matter so that fewer topics are 
treated intensively rather than many extensively. This 
may be taken as a principle of organization to be applied 
to the wealth of material from which a teacher may select 
or it can be used as a principle with which to judge texts. 
Many recent texts are departing from the old encyclopedic 
treatment in which many unrelated and isolated facts were 
set down and are working toward an organization of ma- 
terial around a number of big topics or problems that bring 
in all necessary and related details where they belong, 
logically associated and vitally related to the main thought. 

Regarding the principle as one of organization of ma- 
terial gathered from several sources, we have again the 
underlying principle in a type lesson or in the project 
method. As was shown in the preceding chapters, these 
two types of teaching involve organization into a coherent 
whole of all necessary and related details and skills. Thus 
the details that are necessary for understanding the central 
idea are logically associated and provided for. The project 
illustrates very well the interrelation of subject matter and 
method. 

One of the best discussions of the antithesis between sub- 
ject matter or textbooks made up of masses of unrelated 
and isolated details and texts involving the treatment of a 
number of big topics or themes will be found in Parker’s 
texts." The old crazy-quilt organization of geography and 
history, the hodgepodge of facts, is held up to scorn, and 
specific illustrations of the better organization into projects 
or type studies are given. 

MeMurry quotes from a course of study in fourth-grade 


78. C. Parker, General Methods of Teaching in Elementary Schools 
(Ginn & Co., 1919), pp. 72-78; and Methods of Teaching in High 
Schools (1920), pp. 116-29. 


200 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


geography that, in one term’s work, called for the naming 
and location of six continents, five oceans, nine seas, seven 
culfs and bays, seven mountain systems, fifteen rivers, six- 
teen countries, eighteen cities—or eighty-three facts in all. 
There was nowhere in the course any attempt to relate these 
isolated facts, either to each other or to the life of the child. 
There was no mention of the great underlying causes of 
geographic controls, and so forth, which can be taught sim- 
ply enough to be grasped in the fourth, fifth, or sixth 
grade.® 

The newer geographies take up industries and discuss 
them as found in several parts of the country rather than 
taking arbitrary groups of states and discussing what is 
found there. When sections are taken for discussion, they 
are selected in terms of dominating climatic, industrial, or 
racial principles, rather than in terms of arbitrary bound- 
aries. 

The objection that such treatment does not guarantee 
memory of essential facts is answered by experimental evi- 
dence that such treatment makes for the better memory of 
more facts. The number of details involved in a project or 
type lesson may be as great or greater than in the old ency- 
clopedic treatment, but in the project they all contribute 
to understanding the central idea and are logically asso- 
ciated with it. They need not be remembered as details, 
though many of them are. 

In history the bugbear of dates, events, and names largely 
disappears when the material is organized around some live 
and interesting problem involving many historical facts in 
their proper relationships. When because of intelligent 
organization of material, reflective thought is substituted 
for rote memory, obviously better attention and learning 


8. M. MeMurry, Elementary School Standards (World Book Oo., 
1914), pp. 129-35. 


SUBJECT MATTER 201 


takes place. The supervisor can find much that will be of 
assistance to his teachers by searching the literature of the 
history project. 

Regarding nature study McMurry says: ® 


Trees, birds, insects, and many other assigned topics need not 
be studied entirely as isolated specimens; but the studies should 
be grouped together so as to bring out the human interest in some 
larger problems, such as conservation of forests and bird life, 
influence of insects on agriculture, the usefulness of animals 
and plants to man, the development of individual animals and 
plants. Such organization is largely applicable to grades above 
the third. <A limited number of trees and birds may profitably 
be considered in each primary year, but in grades above the first 
three, there might well be intensive series of lessons which bring 
together the main facts about questions of general interest. 


The same writer emphasizes the great opportunities in 
hygiene to organize much excellent material around the real 
problems of health preservation, local conditions, fights with 
epidemics, ete. 

We are familiar with the isolated and logical treatments 
in elementary science of such topics as air, water, heat. 
Most of this material should be correlated in projects with 
material from geography and hygiene in order to bring out 
everyday usable facts about what otherwise remain vague 
scientific concepts. 

Organization of subject matter in terms of the learner 
instead of in terms of the subject. Rousseau pointed out 
very sharply long ago that there are two arrangements of 
any set of facts or ideas. One chain of thought is developed 
logically in terms of undérlying principles, namely, science. 
The other chain of thought is one in which each fact or idea 
ealls up another fact or idea, as association, curiosity, and 
individual interest dictate. The latter sequence approxi- 


9 Ibid., p. 109. 


202 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


mates the learning process, while the former is the organiza- 
tion of material that has been learned and thoroughly un- 
derstood. 

Dewey, in The Child and the Curriculum, offers an ex- 
cellent discussion of the logical and psychological organiza- 
tion of subject matter.*° 


The child goes to school, and various studies divide and frac- 
tionize the world for him. Geography selects, it abstracts and 
analyzes one set of facts, and from one particular point of view. 
Arithmetic is another division, grammar another department, and 
so on indefinitely. 

Again, in school each of these subjects is classified. Facts are 
torn away from their original place in experience and rearranged 
with reference to some general principle. Classification is not 
a matter of child experience; things do not come to the individual 
pigeonholed. The vital ties of affection, the connecting bonds 
of activity, hold together the variety of his personal experiences. 
The adult mind is so familiar with the notion of logically ordered 
facts that it does not recognize—it cannot realize—the amount 
of separating and reformulating which the facts of direct ex- 
perience have to undergo before they can appear as a “study,” 
or branch of learning. <A principle, for the intellect, has had to 
be distinguished and defined; facts have had to be interpreted in 
relation to this principle, not as they are in themselves. They 
have had to be regathered about a new center which is wholly 
abstract and ideal. All this means a development of a special 
intellectual interest. It means ability to view facts impartially 
and objectively; that is, without reference to their place and 
meaning in one’s own experience. It means capacity to analyze 
and to synthesize. It means highly matured intellectual habits 
and the command of a definite technique and apparatus of sci- 
entific inquiry. The studies as classified are the product, in a 
word, of the science of the ages, not of the experience of the 
child, 

These apparent deviations and differences between child and 
curriculum might be almost indefinitely widened. But we have 
here sufficiently fundamental divergences: first, the narrow but 





10 John Dewey, The Child and the Curriculum (University of 
Chicago Press, 1902), pp. 10-17. 


SUBJECT MATTER 203 


personal world of the child against the impersonal but infinitely 
extended world of space and time; second, the unity, the single 
whole-heartedness of the child’s life, and the specializations and 
divisions of the curriculum; third, an abstract principle of logical 
classification and arrangement, and the practical and emotional 
bonds of child life. 

From these elements of conflict grow up different educational 
sects. One school fixes its attention upon the importance of the 
subject matter of the curriculum as compared with the contents 
of the child’s own experience. It is as if they said: Is life 
petty, narrow, and crude? Then studies reveal the great, wide 
universe with all its fullness and complexity of meaning. 

Not so, says the other sect. The child is the starting-point, the 
center, and the need. His development, his growth, is the ideal. 
It alone furnishes the standard. To the growth of the child all 
studies are subservient; they are instruments valued as they 
serve the needs of growth. Personality, character, is more than 
subject matter. Not knowledge or information but self-realiza- 
tion is the goal. To possess all the world of knowledge and 
lose one’s own self is as awful a fate in education as in religion. 
Moreover, subject matter never can be got into the child from 
without. Learning is active. It involves reaching out of the 
mind. It involves organic assimilation starting from within. 
Literally, we must take our stand with the child and our depar- 
ture from him. It is he and not the subject matter which de- 
termines both quality and quantity of learning. 

Abandon the notion of subject matter as something fixed and 
ready-made in itself, outside the child’s experience; cease think- 
ing of the child’s experience as also something hard and fast; 
see it as something fluent, embryonic, vital; and we realize that 
the child and the curriculum are simply two limits which define 
a single process. Just as two points define a straight line, so 
the present standpoint of the child and the facts and truths of 
studies define instruction. It is continuous reconstruction, mov- 
ing from the child’s present experience out in to that repre- 
sented by the organized bodies of truth that we call studies. 

On the face of it, the various studies, arithmetic, geography, 
language, botany, etc., are themselves experience—they are that 
of the race. They embody the cumulative outcome of the efforts, 
the strivings, and successes of the human race generation after 
generation. They present this, not as a mere accumulation, not 
as a miscellaneous heap of separate bits of experience, but in 


204 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


some organized and systematized way—that is, as reflectively 
formulated. 

Hence, the facts and truths that enter into the child’s present 
experience, and those contained in the subject matter of studies, 
are the initial and final terms of one reality. 


McMurry found in a geography course of study the fol- 
lowing outline, which was to be used in taking up the study 
of any country: ** 


it 


. Location as determined by latitude and longitude, and with 
relation to surrounding countries and waters 

2. Comparative size and shape 

3. Mountain systems and important ranges; slopes and plains 

4. River systems and important rivers 

5. Important cities, their location and their comparative pop- 
ulation 

6. Climate, industries, products, and areas of production 

7. Form of government and general condition of the people as 
to education and ways of living 

8. Exports and imports; trade, particularly with the United 

States 


As MeMurry well asks, what is the particular merit of 
this order of topics? It is neither logical nor psychological. 
He points out that both teacher and class would probably 
wish to begin the study of Holland by discussing how much 
of that country has been reclaimed from the sea and kept 
under cultivation. Brazil might be entered upon through 
a discussion of the tremendous amount of coffee consumed 
in the United States. The recent World War has furnished 
an unlimited number of avenues of approach to geography 
and history that would take advantage of very keen interest 
on the part of the class. To follow rigidly the scheme of 
organization as outlined would be to violate not only the 
logic of the material but the interest and experience of the 
learner. 


11. M. MeMurry, op. cit., p. 131. 


SUBJECT MATTER 205 


History affords a good illustration of the difference be- 
tween the so-called logical and the desired psychological 
organization. History seems to demand by its very nature 
a chronological sequence, but we know that small children 
have no grasp of long-time intervals or recognition of the 
fact that ancient social conditions are out of keeping with 
present-day conditions. This subject should begin, as it 
does in many instances, with a study of the social condi- 
tions with which the pupil comes in direct contact. The 
first step away from home might be, for city children, the 
study of a farm. This would involve construction on the 
sand table, stories, pictures, trips if possible, collection of 
pictures, making booklets, and the like. Indian life, tales 
of the Vikings, of the shepherds and other early people 
would further lead the pupil into history as such. <A fur- 
ther study of the local community in some detail would 
then be in order. This will give the class an insight into 
chronological sequence through concrete, understandable 
material. Parker’s 1? description of a study of Chicago by 
a third-grade class should be read carefully by supervisors, 
for it will be found of great assistance in helping teachers 
to introduce such work. 

Not long ago the subject matter in reading, drawing, and 
writing was selected and organized in terms of the units or 
elements of the processes involved, with little regard for 
the psychological processes of the learner. Children, and 
adults as well, grasp things as wholes and analyze later if 
necessity demands. For that reason writing and drawing 
courses based on a mastery of isolated curves and angles 
violate the learning processes and are even detrimental, in 
many eases, to quick, orderly learning. Writing and draw- 
ing should begin with crude efforts and improvement sought 


12 General Methods of Teaching in Elementary Schools (Ginn & 
Co., 1919), pp. 137-40. 


206 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


through comparison with better models. Writing scales 
have been of great value in this situation. 

In reading it is perhaps best to begin with word or sen- 
tence wholes, to pick out simple words or groups of words, 
and from them to work out the phonograms that may be 
necessary. Such phonie work as is necessary should be 
based upon sight words that were learned as wholes first. 

The shift from formal gymnastics to plays and games is 
in line with organizing subject matter in terms of the 
learner’s interests and activities. The muscular develop- 
ment and hygienic benefits supposed to be derived from 
gymnastics are much more efficiently obtained through 
whole-hearted, happy play. 

In arithmetic the tables and combinations are still taught 
practically everywhere in logical sequence, despite the fact 
that there is considerable experimental evidence to show 
that some of them are much more difficult than others that 
follow them. Many of those now taught among the later 
ones are in reality easier than those that precede, but few 
arithmetic primers take these facts into account. The 
teaching of the fundamental operations must come in for 
considerable revision in the near future in terms of experi- 
ments on the learning process. 

Grammar has long been a storm center in the mattee of 
subject-matter selection, and there have been many argu- 
ments for and against it as a school subject. As it is com- 
monly taught, it probably has little value to the pupil and 
certainly violates his interests and learning processes. Mc- 
Murry criticizes a grammar course from’ which he quotes a 
formal organization of isolated facts: 1° 


The value of this course in Grammar must be seriously ques- 
tioned for three reasons: 
1. It is no source of mental life to the average pupil; and 





13 F, M. MeMurry, op. cit., p. 192. 


SUBJECT MATTER 207 


being made prominent in the crucial sixth year of school, tends 
to drive children out of school. 

2. Experience within the elementary schools has shown that 
the rules of grammar, learned apart from composition, litera- 
ture, and conversation, have very little effect on the correct use 
of English. 

3. The time required for this kind of instruction must be 
mainly taken from composition and literature and thus seriously 
weakens the appeal they make to children. 


The course further provides that in the eighth grade 
emphasis shall be placed upon the connection between com- 
position and grammar. As McMurry puts it, after eight 
years of dull work the pupils are to discover the motive for 
it all! The course criticized is not unlike many now in use 
in the country. 

Other discussions of subject-matter sélection. There 
are many other discussions available in this field, of course, 
and the supervisor should be familiar with the best ones. 
One of the best modern discussions of the philosophy under- 
lying the selection of subject matter, with special reference 
to the present world situation, will be found in Bobbitt’s 
The Curriculum. This is a scholarly treatment of the 
whole problem which points out the needs of the social 
group and attempts to show how to meet them through 
education. Another smaller book by the same author, What 
the Schools Teach and Might Teach, which is based upon 
the Cleveland survey, contains many helpful discussions 
and concrete applications. Bobbitt’s most recent contribu- 
tion is How to Make a Curriculum, a summary of funda- 
mental principles. Another excellent discussion, more re- 
eent than Bobbitt’s, will be found in Bonser’s The Ele- 
mentary School Curriculum. A unique and interesting 
treatment which will be of value is Meriam’s Child Life and 
the Curriculum. 

In Hall-Quest’s The Textbook, pages 82-120, will be 
found a series of score cards or outlines by which to judge 


208 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


subject matter. This book covers the entire field of text- 
book making; it considers content only incidentally, but 
gathers discussions of it from many school systems and 
school men. In addition to the standards for subject mat- 
ter in general, there are some constructed for judging some 
one subject particularly, as, for example, history. 

Mention has been made from time to time in preceding 
pages and for various purposes of certain Yearbooks of the 
National Society for the Study of Education. We may 
emphasize again their value. The Fourteenth, Sixteenth, 
and Seventeenth, Part I in each case, and the Highteenth, 
Part II, contain the reports of the Committee on the Econ- 
omy of Time in Education. They contain much valu- 
able discussion of subject matter that has been selected in 
accord with experimental results or good theory. Many of 
the principles are doubly valuable in that they are directly 
applicable to the teaching of certain material, as well as 
the selection of it. The Nineteenth and Twentieth Year- 
books, Part I in each ease, are entitled ‘‘New Materials of 
Instruction,’’ and contain much material reported by 
teachers who have used it and found it adapted to the 
pupils. The Speyer School Curriculum and the Baltimore 
County Course of Study are good examples of well- 
selected subject matter and should be suggestive to super- 
visors. 

A more technical treatment of this topic, applicable to 
the junior high school more specifically, will be found in 
Rugg and Clark’s ‘‘Scientific Method in the Reconstruction 
of Ninth-grade Mathematies.’’+* A digest of the same ma- 
terial will be found in the front of Fundamentals of High 
School Mathematics by the same authors. The most recent 
summaries of scientific studies in the selection of subject 
matter are to be found in Charter’s Curriculum Construc- 


14 Supplementary Educational Monographs, Vol. 11, No. 1, April, 
1918. 


SUBJECT MATTER 209 


tion, and the Third Yearbook of the Department of Super- 
intendence of the National Education Association. 

The doctrine of formal discipline as a factor in subject- 
matter selection. For generations this doctrine has played 
a large and important part in the determination of school 
subject matter. Material that could not be justified on any 
other grounds whatsoever was retained and is being re- 
tained in the curriculum because of its ‘‘disciplinary’’ 
value. Much other material that has undoubted claim for 
melusion because of its immediate, practical, social value is 
denied admittance, or admitted grudgingly, because it is 
said to lack ‘‘disciplinary’’ value. 

It is not necessary here to go into the details of the old 
and sometimes violent controversy in regard to discipline 
and transfer. Suffice it to say that the partisan debates 
have subsided sufficiently so that a clearer view of the prob- 
lem is possible. No one now claims that discipline is an 
inherent element in a subject that will carry over auto- 
matically and magically. Neither is the claim made that 
there is no transfer of training. Much sound theory is. 
available, and not a little experimental evidence, to show 
that there is some transfer in almost all learning. The 
method of transfer, the method of teaching to guarantee 
transfer, is being sought out and some suggestive experi- 
ments have been completed. 

The doctrine will continue to play a large part in the 
determination of curriculums, consciously or unconsciously, 
for a long time to come. However, the supervisor can. 
safely disregard it as a standard by which to select ma- 
terial, provided that the standards as outlined in this chap- 
ter, or other like treatments, are carefully applied. It will 
never be safe to exclude socially valuable material for the 
sake of other material of doubtful social utility for which 
ardent disciplinary claims are made. On the other hand, 
the practical material need not be frowned upon because it 


210 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


is said to lack disciplinary value. The fact is that disci- 
pline, if there be such, is obtainable in slightly differing 
degrees in any subject. Pupils can be trained to see and 
solve problems in hand work as well as in Latin; to gather 
data, organize and evaluate them, draw and prove infer- | 
ences in hygiene as well as, or better than, in classical litera- 
ture. They can be given opportunity for the exercise of 
reflective thought as easily and efficiently in the field of 
local problems as in studies concerning the social customs 
of the ancients. If there are such things as habits of atten- 
tion and concentration, of accuracy and neatness, they can 
be built up as well in economies as in Euclid. Discipline 
and transfer depend not so much upon the nature of the 
subject, as upon the method of teaching, the emphasis 
placed upon the transferable element, and the pupil’s power 
of generalization. Beware, then, of the teacher who believes 
that grammar will teach the pupil to ‘‘think’’ but who also 
believes that nature study will not do so. The supervisor 
should be able to set forth clearly what thinking is, how it 
may be obtained in the various subjects, and what is per- 
haps most important, how some of the so-called disciplinary 
subjects do not afford the opportunity that is commonly 
attributed to them. 

One caution here, which applies also to the use of the 
standard of social values. This latter term must not be 
interpreted too narrowly ; there are other social values than 
those involved in earning one’s living. Some subjects men- 
tioned in the preceding paragraph as being less desirable 
than others from a disciplinary point of view are not neces- 
sarily to be excluded. They may be justified on other 
grounds. Whatever the grounds, however, they must be 
definite, and understandable and not vague, indefinite, 
“‘diseiplinary’’ or ‘‘cultural’’ arguments. 

An activities curriculum. The foregoing discussion has 
been quite largely in terms of the traditional subjects. It 


SUBJECT MATTER 211 


has been indicated, however, that much subject matter 
should be stated in terms of activities to be performed by 
the pupil rather than text material to be memorized or used 
in thinking. There has been much discussion of the prob- 
lem of subject versus activity organization. It is probably 
true that some subject matter of education will always be 
organized as it has been in the past, 2.e., as textual material. 
The inclusion of activities in the course of study has been 
sadly neglected in the past. One of the most prominent 
features of the present movement in the reorganization of 
the curriculum is the inclusion of such material. The 
philosophy underlying the activities curriculum is well 
stated by Dewey: ?° 


The knowledge which comes first to persons, and that remains 
most deeply ingrained, is knowledge of how to do; how to walk, 
talk, read, write, skate, ride a bicycle, manage a machine, eal- 
culate, drive a horse, sell goods, manage people, and so on in- 
definitely. The popular tendency to regard instinctive acts which 
are adapted to and end as a sort of miraculous knowledge, while 
unjustifiable, is evidence of the strong tendency to identify in- 
telligent control of the means of action with knowledge. When 
education, under the influence of a scholastic conception of 
knowledge which ignores everything but scientifically formulated 
facts and truths, fails to recognize that primary or initial sub- 
ject matter always exists as matter of an active doing, involv- 
ing the use of the body and the handling of material, the sub- 
ject matter of instruction is isolated from the needs and purposes 
of the learner, and so becomes just a something to be memorized 
and reproduced upon demand. Recognition of the natural course 
of development, on the contrary, always sets out with situations 
which involve learning by doing. Arts and occupations form the 
initial stage of the curriculum, corresponding as they do to know- 
ing how to go about the accomplishment of ends. 


In short, the grounds for assigning to play and active work 
a definite place in the curriculum are intellectual and social, not 


15 From John Dewey, Democracy in Education, D. 217. Reprinted 
by permission of the Macmillan Co., publishers. 


212 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


matters of temporary expediency and momentary agreeableness. 
Without something of the kind, it is not possible to secure 
normal estate of effective learning; namely, that knowledge- 
getting be an outgrowth of activities having their own end, 
instead of a school task. More specifically, play and work corre- 
spond, point for point, with the traits of the initial state of 
knowing, which consists, as we saw in the last chapter, in learn- 
ing how to do things and in acquaintance with things and proc- 
esses gained in the doing.1® 

The problem of the educator is to engage pupils in these ac- 
tivities in such ways that while manual skill and technical effi- 
ciency are gained and immediate satisfaction found in the work, 
together with preparation for later usefulness, these things shall 
be subordinated to education—that is, to intellectual results and 
the forming of a socialized disposition.1* 


Bobbitt has defined the general types of activities most 
valuable to boys and girls in the achievement of the goals 
of education.18 


Let us begin with this question: What are the general types of 
activity and experience dictated both by common sense and edu- 
cational science, which will enable the pupil to achieve his several 
goals? Here are some of them: 

1. Observation. From early infaney onward, without thought 
of learning, man normally observes the world round about him. 
. . . This observation is not merely visual. He also listens .. . 
he explores things with his hands. He tests things with sense 
of taste or smell. He lifts them, feels them, turns them over and 
examines them. ... It is the nature of man thus to observe. 
He does not do it for the sake of placing information in storage. 
It is only a mode of living. To omit it is in part not to live. 
To do it consciously for the sake of placing information in 
storage is not to do it normally. 

2. Performance of function. One will not learn to saw a 
board, or do handwriting, or play a piano until one saws boards 





16 Ibid., p. 229. 
17 Ibid., p. 231. 


18 Franklin Bobbitt, How to Make a Curriculum (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1924), pp. 45 ff. 


SUBJECT MATTER 213 


and does the handwriting, and plays the piano for himself... . 
Observation will give him the patterns of conduct, but not the 
substance. He must perform the function... . It is no easy 
matter to arrange and administer the performance of function. 

3. Reading. It has advantages over direct observation. It 
transcends the limitations of time and space and sense. It lifts 
the curtain upon the whole nation and all of its activities, the 
whole world and all of its strivings, and even the universe be- 
yond as far as man has been able to penetrate. It opens up the 
past to one’s vision. It can make the long past live before one’s 
eyes as clearly as the past of an hour ago. It enables one to see 
the hidden, the minute, the intangible, the invisible, the general. 

4. Oral Report. 

5. Pictures. 

6. The prolonging, repeating, and intensifying of one’s expert 
ences. It is the nature of man to think over his more vivid and 
significant experiences, to repeat them in imagination, to tell 
them to others, and thus to re-live them a second, third, tenth, or 
hundredth time. 

7. Problem-solving. 

8. Generalization. To see the world in a generalized way is 
thus but a portion of one’s observation of it. 


Many of the later curriculums organize much of their 
content around activities and this is undoubtedly a whole- 
some tendency. Some attempts even have been made to 
write the entire curriculum in terms of activities. If ac- 
tivity is regarded, as Bobbitt regards it, as inclusive of 
reading, problem solving, and generalizing, such curricu- 
lums would probably be satisfactory. If activity is re- 
garded, as some do regard it, as limited to performance of 
function in the sense of physical or overt action, then such 
curriculums would undoubtedly lack much essential subject 
matter. A common-sense combination of both subject 
(text) and activity organization is probably the best for the 
present. 

Present standards for judging the teacher’s selection of 
subject matter not entirely satisfactory. Good as the 
statements of standards by McMurry, Parker, and others 


214 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


are, they are not adequate. They are far removed, remote, 
and general. While they fulfill the purpose for which they 
were designed they need to be detailed and restated in more 
objective terms. Just when is a teacher’s selection of sub- 
ject matter good? Jn general when it is selected: (1) in 
relation to varying social needs, (2) in accord with the prin- 
ciple of relative values, (3) so that fewer topics are treated 
intensively rather than extensively, (4) so that it is or- 
ganized in terms of the learner rather than in terms of the 
subject itself. But specifically, we do not know. 

Improving the teacher’s selection of subject matter. 
The problem of improving the teacher’s selection of subject 
matter calls up a related activity, of importance to the 
teacher, and related to curriculum construction, namely 
course of study making. It seems that a distinction might 
well be made between curriculum research and course-of- 
study making. The two fields represent different types of 
activities and will probably be carried forward by two 
different groups of educational experts. 

The scientific curriculum maker is primarily interested in 
research studies designed to determine: 

1. The specific objectives of education 

2. The activities or subject matter by which these ob- 
jectives are to be attained 

3d. The grade placement of these activities or subject 
matter 

4. The principles of subject matter organization 

The course-of-study maker is interested in utilizing the 
products of such research, but only as one of a number of 
factors contributing to teaching. The course-of-study 
maker must: 


1. Formulate in understandable terms the ultimate goals 
of instruction—the guiding aims of teaching (science and 
philosophy), 


SUBJECT MATTER 215 


2. Set up general and specifie objectives for each grade 
and subject (curriculum research). 

3. Select activities, and subject matter, by which the ob- 
jectives of education are to be realized (curriculum re- 
search). 

4. Provide the proper physical setting for learninge— 
housing, equipment, textbooks, supplies, ete. (administra- 
tion). 

5. Offer usable analyses of the mental processes involved 
in the several types of learning (educational psychology). 

6. Offer suitable diagnostic procedures for studying 
pupils (measurement, etc.). 

7. Suggest effective teaching procedures (method). 

8. Develop standards of attainment (measurement). 

The scientific curriculum maker is primarily interested 
in the selection of learning activities. The course-of-study 
maker is primarily interested in the selection and organiza- 
tion of subject matter for teaching purposes. In fact, he 
is interested in everything that may affect teaching out- 
comes either immediately or ultimately. 

Supervisors are primarily interested in course-of-study 
making. The great majority of superintendents, princi- 
pals, grade and departmental supervisors, and teachers, 
will find little time for extensive curriculum research. 
They will interest themselves rather in the utilization of 
such research. They will bring together in the course of 
study the results of scientific study in many fields; (a) ecur- 
riculum making, (b) educational philosophy, (c) educa- 
tional psychology, (d) educational methods, (e) educational 
measurements. The supervisor’s chief task is in the prac- 
tical adaptation of the products of research in many fields 
to teaching conditions. This in itself stead a tre- 
mendous piece of work. 

Steps involved in curriculum making. Before turning 
to the details of course-of-study making we may examine a 


216 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


very brief summary of the general steps governing the en- 
tire procedure of both curriculum-making and course-of- 
study construction. The steps may be summarized as fol- 
lows: 7° 


1. Select from the major fields of human activities one or 
more divisions for study and analysis. The steps in 
scientific curriculum-making are of such an intricate 
nature that persons choosing this work should be warned 
against the dangers of attempting to cover a large range 
of human activities in any one study. 

2. There are three accepted methods of determining educa- 
tional objectives through social analysis: 

(a) The method of analysis, by which a given field of 
human endeavor is broken up into its numerous 
specific activities and the abilities essential to the 
performance of these activities. 

(b) The method of errors, a method of analysis by 
which the shortcomings of society are listed for 
specific training. 

(c) The method of agreement, a study of the lives of 
successful personages of successful institutions, 
ete., for the principles, practices, and knowledyes, 
essential to success. 

3. An analysis of the individual for those mental character- 
istics, abilities, and interests that characterize human 
behavior. The qualities here referred to are psychologi- 
cal and individual, as opposed to the sociological objec- 
tives derived from an analysis of society. They are 
mental, nonsocial, universally desirable qualities char- 
acteristic of human activities and fundamental to child 
training. 

4. The determination of those universal personal qualities 
(ideals) that should characterize man’s activities regard- 
less of age, sex, race, vocation, social status, or nation- 
ality. These are the social standards for judging hu- 
man action, such as honesty, open-mindedness, self- 
sacrifice, ete. 


19 A. S. Barr, ‘‘Making the Course of Study,’’ Journal of Edu- 
cational Method, Vol. 3, May, 1924, pp. 371-72. 


ae 


10. 


Ad 


12. 


SUBJECT MATTER 217 


A study of the activities of child life. The aim of educa- 
tion is to train children to live well as children, as well 
as to live well as adults. 


. The listing of the objectives, that is, the specific abilities 


that one needs in the performance of life’s activities as 
discovered in the analysis of items 1, 2, 3, and 4, above. 
The body of information here developed, while essential 
to the curriculum builder, need not be detailed in the 
course of study. A summarized statement of these ob- 
jectives for the several grade levels will serve all prac- 
tical purposes. 


. The formulation of guiding principles. The course of 


study for any department should be guided by general 
assumptions and principles dealing with: 

(a) The local community 

(6) The age and maturity of the children 

(c) Previous trainings of the children 

(d) Probably life occupation 

(e) The time allotment of the several subjects 

(f) Other subjects in related fields 


. The selection from the entire range of abilities of those 


abilities to be developed in school. Many of the abili- 
ties essential to the performance of life’s activities will 
be cared for normally in the great school of experience. 


. The selection of pupil experiences, that is, the activities to 


be used in attaining the objectives. Since like experi- 
ences affect different individuals differently, the activities 
used to achieve desirable goals (objectives) must take 
into account the principle of individual differences. Lists 
of tried experiences with plenty of freedom for indi- 
vidual differences are desirable. 

The selection and standardization of needed materials, sup- 
plies, equipment, ete., essential to effective teaching. 

The grade placement of materials. This involves study of 
the mental processes involved in the successful perform- 
ance of each activity. It is impossible properly to place 
curriculum materials without actual classroom use of 
such materials. 

The organization of experiences into correlated instruc- 
tional units. The organization of materials may be an 
activities organization, a subject-matter organization, or 
a combination of both. Each has its advantages. 


218 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


13. The formulation of proper methods of teaching. A de- 
tailed analysis of method will doubtless show that the 
same methods are not applicable to all activities. In 
addition to the specific discussion of method, the course 
of study should include a statement of the technique of 
knowledge development, skills development, attitude de- 
velopment, ete. 

14. The determination of standards of attainment (grade by 
grade). There should be a definite statement of what 
ean reasonably be expected in any field of instruction 
for each grade level. 

15. The introduction of the various mechanical devices essen- 
tial to the course of study. 

16. The constant revision of the course of study in the hght 
of experience and experimentation. 


Charters gives a very concise summary covering very 
much the same ground as the more elaborate statement al- 
ready given. He summarizes the steps as follows: 7° 


1. Determine the major objectives of education by a study of 
the life of man in its social setting. 

2. Analyze these objectives into ideals and activities and con- 
tinue the analysis to the level of working units. 

3. Arrange these in the order of importance. 

4. Raise to positions of higher order in this list, those ideals 
and activities which are high in value for children but 
low in value for adults. 

5. Determine the number of the most important items in the 
resulting list which can be handled in the time allotted to 
school education, after deducting those which are better 
learned outside of school. 

6. Collect the best practices of the race in handling these ideals 
and activities. 

7. Arrange the material so obtained in proper instructional 
order, according to the psychological nature of children. 


~The method of curriculum construction outlined in the 
preceding pages contrasts sharply with the traditional 


20 From W. W. Charters, Curriculum Construction, p. 102. Re- 
printed by permission of the Macmillan Co., publishers. 


SUBJECT MATTER 219 


‘“paste pot and scissors’’ method which was in vogue for 
many years. The older method does, however, still persist 
in some places despite the wide interest in, and publicity 
given to, modern curriculum research. A recent bulletin of 
the National Education Association *4 contains two inter- 
esting cartoons contrasting the two methods. One picture 
shows eight people gathered around the table to make the 
course of study; two classroom teachers, a building prin- 
cipal, a supervisor, the superintendent, a college expert, the 
director of research, and a layman. This is labeled, ‘‘Cur- 
riculum Construction in 1925.’’ 

The other picture shows the superintendent seated alone 
at the table. On the table are numerous courses of study 
and a paste pot. The superintendent is cutting pieces out 
of the various courses and pasting them together to form a 
new course for his schools. This picture is labeled, ‘‘Cur- 
riculum Construction in 1900.’’ And yet as late as 1922 
an individual who constructed a state course shortly be- 
fore that date said, ‘‘I gathered every course of study that 
I could find and took the best from each. My course con- 
tains the best that has been done in the country.’’ The- 
oretically the course might have done so, but it is not likely 
when one thinks of the great differences in objectives, in 
philosophy, in scientific ability which must have been repre- 
sented in the courses examined. A similar antiquated point 
of view is to be seen in the remark of the state superin- 
tendent who said, ‘‘I will write the course of study in His- 
tory for the state during my vacation this month.’’ 

Organizing for course-of-study making. The details 
of organization will vary from community to community. 
In general, the organization should be a democratic one de- 
signed to secure the codperative effort of teachers, princi- 





21‘‘Keeping Pace With the Advancing Curriculum,’’ National 
Education Association Research Bulletin, Vol. 3, Nos. 4 and 5 (double 
number), Sept. and Nov., 1925, pp. 110-11. 


220 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


pals, supervisors, and community. Generally speaking, 
‘farm chair’’ courses of study are not effective. As has 
already been said, course-of-study making is not only an 
end desirable in itself, but a most valuable means of train- 
ing teachers in service. That organization will be, in the 
last analysis, the most effective which provides for generous 
teacher participation. Probably the best summary of the 
details of organization can be found in the Second Yearbook 
of the Department of Superintendence. The following 
quotations set forth the more general principles of organ- 
ization. 


To get the best results in the making of a course of study, the 
combined wisdom of experts, administrators, and classroom 
teachers should be pooled. In other words, both national leader- 
ship and local leadership are required. 

Nationally, there is a place for pooling the ideas of experts in 
laying down broad general principles. A properly balanced 
group of experts can lay down better general principles to guide 
all communities than any local community can formulate for 
itself. Even though this is done, large responsibility will still 
rest on the local community. 

Locally, there is a place for every member of the school de- 
partment in adjusting the course of study to individual needs of 
pupils and community conditions. When the classroom teacher 
herself helps in the formulation of the course of study, she un- 
derstands its purposes and content, and if she is not in complete 
sympathy with them, she has a feeling of freedom to criticize 
them and she is willing to bring her experience to bear in their 
revision. 

Finally, a course of study must be looked upon as a growing 
proposition, a thing that will continue to grow as long as the 
human race continues to grow.?? 


The best results have been secured when four groups of people, 
or representatives therefrom, have been used in due proportion. 


22¢“The Elementary School Curriculum,’’ Second Yearbook of the 
Department of Superintendence, National Education Association, 
Feb., 1924, p. 120. 


SUBJECT MATTER 221 


These groups are : (a) the administrative and supervisory group 
—those carrying responsibilities extending throughout the system 
or approximately so, and bringing to them an overview of the 
relationships within the system and a sense of the relative im- 
portance of things; (b) the classroom teacher who must finally 
execute the curriculum plans; (c) the subject-matter expert, or 
specialist—the scholar in the subject under consideration ; and (d) 
the intelligent, interested lay citizen who has a constructive atti- 
tude toward the public schools.?* 


The organization necessary for making the course of 
study. In answer to the question, ‘‘ What organization or 
types of organization may be expected to realize the objec- 
tives proposed and use the personnel suggested with econ- 
omy and efficiency ?’’ the following guidance is offered in 
the Second Yearbook of the Department of Superintend- 
ence : 74 


Experience shows that the organization employed must provide 
for: (a) Securing the right spirit throughout the process of 
- curriculum development and improvement. (6b) Launching the 
problem or problems effectively from time to time. (c) Insuring 
necessary detailed work. (d) Providing for proper correlation 
between subjects. (e) Properly dovetailing the course longi- 
tudinally throughout the elementary and junior and senior high 
schools. (f) Bringing the work on any course of study to a com- 
pleted state where it is tentatively acceptable administratively. 
{g) Testing the satisfactoriness of the tentative result. (h) In- 
stalling and operating the finished course satisfactorily in the 
system that it is to serve. (7) Constantly improving the com- 
pleted course of study. How each of these ends may be secured 
through proper organization will be briefly suggested. 


The usual type of organization used is that of the com- 
mittee. The details are clearly set forth in the following 
quotation : 7° 


23 Ibid., p. 38. 
24 Ibid., p. 41. 
25 Ibid., p. 117. 


222 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


In the revision of the curriculum I believe: 

1. That a school department should work on this problem as 
a unit. 

2. That the teaching staff should be organized on a strictly 
representative basis to carry on the definite and continu- 
ous study of this problem. 

3. That the superintendent should act as official head to see 
that this representative organization is not only instituted 
but perfected and untrammeled in its work. 

4, That the supervisors should serve as codperators, advisors, 
and, for the purpose of centralizing, promoting, and util- 
izing, without delay, the work as it is ready for experi- 
mentation as chairmen of the various committees of the 
organization. The supervisor should not only serve to 
promote better teaching, she should serve to protect good 
teaching, and to further professional development among 
the teaching staff with whom she works. 

5. That community and national leaders or experts in educa- 
tion should be called in only as the organization realizes 
need of expert help in the solution of curriculum prob- 
lems. 

6. That the local superintendent, through his experience as a . 
member of the great Department of Superintendence, 
should appreciate the value of organization for the pro- 
motion of professionalism and should, if possible, codper- 
ate with any local teacher’s organization which may exist 
among his teachers, in carrying on a correlative pro- 
fessional program. 

7. That in every community permanent machinery should be 
developed whereby a continuous study of the curriculum 
may be carried on. We must come to think of the 
curriculum as a growing problem, the more nearly cor- 
rect operation of which is equally important to local com- 
munity, state, and nation, 


Another quotation from the same yearbook throws addi- 
tional light on the actual procedure: *° 


Such committees (one for each subject) could with proper 
stenographie help make in two weeks a course of study incom- 


26 Ibid., p. 111. 


SUBJECT MATTER 223 


parably better than any course of study now in print. Each 
committee must be selected and organized, so that it will not 
only represent but bring into action the best leadership in this 
country with respect to the subject concerned. Procedure: (1) 
A week’s preliminary meeting for reviewing and outlining prob- 
lems, (2) following period of additional study a second week’s 
meeting for formulating a tentative course of study, (3) volun- 
teer schools throughout the country, representing all types of 
conditions to test out this tentative course of study, and (4) 
after a trial of a year or two, a final course of study should be 
formulated from the suggestions and changes made in the tenta- 
tive course. 


The purpose of the course of study. The next question 
that needs to be raised in course-of-study making is, What is 
the purpose of the course of study? Why a course of study, 
if any? Miss Margaret M. Alltucker offers an excellent 
summary statement of the purposes of the course of study. 
The course of study, according to Miss Alltucker, should 
serve the following purposes: 2” 


1. To guide the teacher in her work. The printed course of 
study is her handbook. It should help her to understand the 
purpose of school work—what things to teach in each subject and 
how to divide the time. In so far as it limits and restricts the 
individual expression of the thoughtful teacher, it is at fault; 
in so far as it aids the work and gives ample latitude to the 
strong, it is helpful and worth while. As a guide it should 
encourage initiative and resourcefulness and inspire the teacher 
to her best thinking. 

2. To coordinate all the efforts of the school, to unify the 
work of the various grades as to aims and principles, and to 
enable each teacher to see her own work, not as a separate unit, 
but as growing out of the work of preceding grades, and leading 
to that which is to follow. y 

3. To provide a basis for classification and promotion, to make 
approximate assignments of work to be completed within given 


27 Margaret M. Alltucker, ‘‘ Building the Curriculum,’’ Journal of 
the National Education Association, Vol. 13, Feb., 1924, p. 68. 


224. THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


periods, and to establish standards of attainment which will help 
each teacher to keep in mind certain facts, habits, and skills which 
children in her class are expected to acquire, with ability to 
use these in situations requiring their use. 

4. To encourage teachers to keep in mind the fostering of 
superior abilities with which some children are endowed; to help 
all children to work to their capacity. 

5. To help teachers constantly to work toward the realization 
of those ultimate, though less tangible aims, namely: the culti- 
vation, as by-products of all the required work, of certain habits, 
skills, interests, attitudes, appreciations, and ideals which pro- 
mote not only the ability to make a living, but the ability to live 
abundantly. 


Kyte has supplied another excellent statement of the pur- 
pose and content of the course of study.”® 


1. It will be a real source of inspiration to the teacher. 

2. It will serve as a guide in planning distribution. 

3. It will give definite, specific, and concrete help to the teachers 
in understanding the purposes, teaching procedures, and 
outcomes. 

4. It will contain examples of types of procedure illustrating 
the ultilization of child interests and motives, the edu- 
cationally profitable activities into which the children 
were guided and directed, and the results of achievements. 

5. It will give evidence throughout its rich and extensive con- 
tent that all valuable scientific investigation which should 
increase the efficiency of our teaching has been used. 

6. It will contain evidence that it has been checked against the 
accepted best and most modern courses of study in print. 


Courses of study seldom fulfill these purposes. Most 
courses of study fail to reach the standards set up by Pro- 
fessor Kyte. Silent testimony to the inadequacy of the 
course of study is seen in the infrequent use made of it by 


28 George C. Kyte, ‘‘The Codperative Development of a Course of 
Study.’’ Kducational Administration and Supervision, Vol. 9, Dec., 
1923, pp. 517-36. 


SUBJECT MATTER 225 


the average classroom teacher. Courses of study, to many 
teachers, are documents to have at hand and readily pro- 
duced when called for by the supervisor, principal, or su- 
perintendent. The teacher may go so far as to consult the 
document at the beginning of the semester, to fit the general 
trend of things but never really use it. The course of 
study should be so comprehensive, so practical, so sug- 
gestive, so full of information, and so well organized that 
the teacher finds it a constant source of assistance and 
reassurance. 

With this thought in mind several of the Detroit super- 
visors attempted to develop courses of study interesting to 
teachers. The course of study in Health Instruction, grades 
4, 5, 6, is a good example. There are, first of all, in 
this course of study, pictures, educational cartoons, lists 
of health plays, playlets and pageants, analyzed as to 
title, cost, grade, subject, number of pages, publisher, 
and so forth; textbooks on health education, with the 
location of subject matter by pages; lists of motion 
pictures and lantern slides; health magazines; children’s 
books; illustrations from children’s scrap books, posters, 
charts, and so forth; health rhymes, slogans, hand songs; 
health projects and directions for the organization of 
health habit work and clubs; tables illustrating growth, 
height and weight, specific suggestions for weighing and 
measuring children ; sample diets for school children; tables 
of food value; graphical representations of investigations 
of absences from school because of illness; charts illustrat- 
ing the progress of the struggle with disease; physical abili- 
ties tables; and the usual teacher’s statement of objectives, 
teaching outline, method, standard of attainment, and bib- 
liographies. The particular course of study referred to is 
by no means complete; it merely represents a point of view. 

What present courses of study contain. Thirty-six 
courses of study were selected at random for analysis, to 


226 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


discover the general content of present offerings. In- 
formation concerning the following points was secured: 
(1) Introductory remarks, (2) Tables of contents, (3) In- 
. dex, (4) Statement of aims of objectives, (5) Teaching out- 
line (content), (6) References and bibliographies, (7) Lists 
of supplies, equipment and classroom materials, (8) Visual 
aids, (9) Supplementary information to aid teachers, (10) 
Type lessons and concrete examples, (11) Standardized 
tests and testing, (12) Educational diagnosis and remedial 
measures, (13) Discussion of method, (14) Provision for 
individual differences, (15) Standards of attainment, (16) 
Readableness of the course of study, (17) Special features 
of interest, (18) Total number of pages, (19) Miscellaneous 
materials. 

The tabulations showed that 214 per cent of the average 
course of study is given to introductory remarks; 14 per 
cent to the table of contents; 62 per cent to the teaching 
outline; 5 per cent to the statement of aims or objectives; 
7 per cent to visual aids; 44 per cent to tests and testing; 
14 per cent to educational diagnosis and remedial measures ; 
1 per cent to standards of attainment; 914 per cent to ref- 
erences and bibliographies; 5 per cent to supplementary 
information; 5 per cent to type lessons and concrete ex- 
amples; 114 per cent to index. Asidé from these statistics 
the general impression is that the average course of study is 
a rather fragmentary document. 

What courses of study should contain. There are many 
excellent ways to organize a course of study. The organiza- 
tion here proposed is only one among many. 


1. An introductory statement covering the general aims and 
content of the subject 

2. Objectives, general, grade, subject 

3. A teaching outline organized on the unit basis giving: 
(a) Specific objectives 
(b) Content 


SUBJECT MATTER 227 


(c) Method 
(d) Materials 
(e) Standards of attainment 

4. Teaching aids such as type lessons, diagnostic and remedial 
measures, Supplementary ready information for teachers 
and pupils, educational tests, ete. 


Space does not permit that each of these phases be fully 
illustrated. .A few brief extracts from courses are given 
for purposes of illustration. The student is advised to con- 
sult the many examples of modern course-of-study making 
which are making their appearance almost daily. 

1. An introductory statement covering the general aims 
and content of the subject. Such statements have been 
made ever since courses have been constructed. Modern 
introductions are, however, very much more specific and 
definite as opposed to the older more general and abstract 
statements. 

The general introduction to the Junior High School So- 
cial Science Course in the Denver public schools is seven 
pages long and covers the following points: ?° 


. Present status of the social studies 
. General objectives 

. Organization of the course 

Pupil activities 

. General method of procedure 

. General standards of attainment 

. General equipment 

. Different ability groups 


ONOMTPwWNe 


The points discussed in the introduction in general are 
elaborated in detail as each unit is taken up. 

2. The objectives. Long lists of objectives should not be 
put into the course of study. Here again, curriculum mak- 


29‘*Social Science,’’? Course of Study, Monograph No. 3, Public 
Schools, Denver, Colorado, 1924, pp. 9-16. 


228 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


ing and course-of-study making need to be differentiated. 
For the curriculum maker long lists of objectives are quite 
essential. They are an outgrowth of the analysis upon 
which the scientific selection of subject matter rests. But 
they are for the curriculum maker and not primarily 
for the teacher. They are a means to an end. They 
represent the process through which the curriculum maker 
must go in the selection of subject matter. This end 
accomplished, they may be discarded for shorter work- 
ing lists of objectives. This failure to distinguish be- 
tween curriculum research and course-of-study making has 
led more than one supervisor to write into his course long 
lists of objectives (in many eases this constitutes the course 
of study)—lists of objectives never read by the average 
teacher. The number of objectives in every case should be 
short enough and specific enough to be usable by the 
average classroom teacher. 

There are five types of objectives that the supervisor 
needs to distinguish in making the course of study. 

(a) General educational objectives. Course-of-study 
making presupposes a general philosophy of education. 
The supervisor must settle at the outset whether education 
is to be looked upon as life, as preparation for life, as learn- 
ing to order one’s own experiences, as the acquisition of 
knowledge, as the interpretation of personality, as the de- 
velopment of reasoned control over one’s behavior, or what 
not. These, elaborated, are the general educational objec- 
tives. By searching the literature, Barnes found twelve 
statements by modern educators of the general objectives 
of education. Comparing them he found eight objectives 
to be constant in all lists and ten objectives mentioned a 
varying number of times. His listing follows: °° 


30G. I. Barnes, ‘‘Underlying Principles and Modern Tendencies 
in Curriculum Making,’’ Kentucky School Journal, Vol. 4. October, 
1925, pp. 10-15. 


SUBJECT MATTER 229 


Constants : 
1. Leisure 
2. Occupation or vocation 
3. Health 
4. Social 
5. Citizenship 
6. Moral—ethical 
7. Worthy home membership 
8. Command of the fundamental processes 
Variables: 
1. Social intereommuniecation 
2. Intellectual fitness 
3. Religion 
4. Parental responsibility 
5. Unspecialized activity 
6. Economie 
7. Aesthetic 
8. Individualistice—avocational 
9. Leadership 
10. General efficiency 


These general objectives are more the concern of the 
eurriculum maker than of the course-of-study maker, 
though they are the background controlling the work of the 
latter. 

(b) Subject objectives. These objectives must be in 
keeping with the peculiar contribution that the subject has 
to offer to the child’s development. Samples of subject 
objectives, taken from the Denver course of study follow.** 

The authors hold no brief for the illustrative objectives 
presented in the following paragraphs. The illustrations 
are taken at random from recent courses of study and 
give a picture of present practice. Many course-of-study 
makers are still very vague in stating their ‘‘specific’’ ob- 
jectives. 


31 ‘Social Science,’’ Course of Study, Monograph No. 3, Public 
Schools, Denver, Colorado, 1924, p. 9. 


230 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Social science in the junior high school: 
1. To interpret the industrial, social, and economic contacts 
of the junior high school pupil with his environment. 
2. To train pupils in the type of thinking most utilized in 
everyday life. 
3. To acquire a knowledge of and an appreciation for the 
social and civic ideals of the American people. 


Commerce in the junior high school: *” 

1. To aid the pupil to discover and begin to develop his 
ability along commercial lines. 

2. To give the pupil who may leave school early basic train- 
ing which will be of service to him in whatever line he 
may find himself. 

3. To give introductory vocational training, so far as pos- 
sible, in those commercial occupations which surveys 
show are entered by boys and girls who leave school 
during junior-high-school years. 

4. To make future commercial education more vital and 
meaningful, regardless of the length of time it may be 
pursued. 


(c) Grade objectives. Grade objectives are, of course, 
the subject objectives broken into the units to be accom- 
plished grade by grade: 


Arithmetic, Grade 13° ; 
1. To give opportunity to the child to interpret, utilize, and 
build up through work and play his notions of numbering. 


Arithmetic, Grade 2 
1. To give the child the opportunity through work and play 
to meet situations in which the need for number arises 
and through these to develop further his ability in dealing 
with number relationships. | 


82‘“Course of Study in Commerce,’’ Monograph No. 6, Public 
Schools, Denver, Colorado, 1924, p. 7. 

33 **Course of Study in Arithmetic,’’ Monograph No. 4, Public 
Schools, Denver, Colorado, 1924, pp. 15, 22, 54. 


SUBJECT MATTER 231 


2. To provide means for a mastery of the primary addition 
and subtraction facts through scientifically organized 
drills. 


Arithmetic, Grade 3 

1. To automatize eempletely the processes involved in the 
mastery of the four fundamental operations. 

2. To develop ability to use the fundamental processes with 
facility and accuracy in other than drill exercises. 

3. To establish by practice the habit of checking and proving 
results. 

4. To familiarize the child with the mathematical language 
necessary to interpret simple problems, and to develop 
skill in the solving of these problems regardless of the 
process involved. 


Another similar illustration : ** 


Applied Art, Fifth Grade 
To gain: 

(a) An ability to design an arrangement of the front yard 
for beauty, comfort, and convenience; to consider 
foundation and boundary planting of hedges, shrub- 
bery, small decorative trees or shade trees, vines, 
flowers. 

(b) A knowledge of available materials for walks, harmony 
of material with house, arrangement of walks for 
convenience and design. 

(c) A knowledge of local varieties of trees, shrubs, vines, 
flowers. 

(d) A knowledge of harmony in design and color in house 
and planting with neighboring buildings and planting. 

(e) A knowledge of kinds of finishes used in house ex- 
teriors for protection of material, durability, relative 
values and costs. 

To gain: 

(a) An appreciation of social and civie values of public 
parks and playgrounds and to encourage care of 
parks, playgrounds, and street planting. 





$4 Mabel Arbuckle, ‘‘ Applied Arts,’? Public Schools, Detroit, 
Michigan. 


232 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


(b) An ability to locate on the city map all main public 
thoroughfares, rivers, parks, civic, county, and federal 
buildings, and to know the type of architecture of 
these buildings. 

(c) An appreciation of and active interest in civie philan- 
thropie work. 

(d) A knowledge of the U. S. Weather Bureau and recog- 
nition of weather signals. 


(d) Specific objectives for each teaching unit. These 
should not be mere lists but ends actually sought and 
actually attainable in the classroom. 


General Science, Grade Seven, Unit 1, “The Sun’s Gift of Heat 
Outcomes” *° 
1. Realization that all life is dependent upon heat 
2. Knowledge that heat can be generated, measured, and con- 
trolled, but neither created nor destroyed 
. Realization that the sun is the source of all heat 
. Understanding of heat as a factor in every one’s life and in 
the world’s business 
. Working knowledge of the emphasis to be placed upon 
problems of conservation 


He OD 


On 


Social Science, Grade Seven, Unit 2, “The Industrial Life of the 

American People’ *6 

1. To show how the size, location, and natural resources of the 
United States have made her a great nation 

2. To show how transportation and communication developed 
with industrial growth and thus bound together all parts 
of the country 

3. To show how the change to large scale farming helped to 
supply food for her growing population 

4. To show how transformation in industry affected the lives 
of people 


(e) The immediate or conscious teaching aims of the 


35 Course of Study in General Science, Monograph No. 2, Public 
Schools, Denver, Colorado, 1924, p. 12. 

36 ‘Social Science,’’? Course of Study, Monograph No. 3, Public 
Schools, Denver, Colorado, 1924, p. 29. 


SUBJECT MATTER 233 


teacher.*? Nothing is quite as important as a consciousness 
on the part of the teacher of exactly what is to be accom- 
plished through each day’s work. 


_ The aim of this physics lesson is to show some of the practical 
devices used to determine specific gravity. 

The aim of this lesson in history is to bring out the main rea- 
sons for the decline and fall of the Roman eivilization, and to 
compare conditions in Rome with similar conditions in America 
to-day. 

The aim of this exercise in chemistry is to give the pupils some 
familiarity with the method of purifying water of volatile sub- 
stances by the application of heat, and to afford individuals prac- 
tice in this method until they can use it practically. 


3. A teaching outline organized on the umt basis. The 
outline of each teaching unit should include a statement of 
the purposes of the unit as a whole, the suggested pupil 
activities, suggested teacher activities, methods, materials, 
references, standards of attainment, classroom management, 
and so forth. Space will not permit a complete discussion 
of these elements. Brief sample units, however, will be 
given, clearly illustrating them. 

There is given first, immediately below, an outline de- 
signed to aid the supervisor in organizing units.*§ 

1. Essential Information 

(a) The purpose for which the “unit”? was organized. 

(b) The time required to cover the “unit.” 

(c) The half grade and subject into which the “unit” will fit. 

(d) The class of pupil (indicate intelligence, nationality, 
home conditions, ete.) for which the “unit” is in- 
tended. 

(e) The length and number of class periods suggested. 


(f) The amount of time required in study preparation out- 
side of class. 


37 §. 8. Colvin, An Introduction to High School Teaching (The 
Macmillan Co., 1918), pp. 340—44. 

38H. W. Nutt, The Supervision of Instruction (Houghton Mifflin 
Co., 1920), pp. 117-30. The statement of essential information 
is a summary of Nutt’s material. 


234 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


2. The Organization of the “Unit” 

(a) Introductory statement. Give the larger objectives of 
the unit of work. 

(6) The teaching procedure. Outline in detail how the 
various sections within the unit are to be developed 
by pupil and teacher to get a well-rounded-out view 
of the unit as a whole. Indicate clearly “minimum 
essential,” that is, the minimal material to be mas- 
tered by all groups. There should also be an abun- 
dance of suggestive material, much more than any 
single teacher could use for brighter pupils. 

(c) Method. Outline in general the lesson types to use. 
The same methods are, of course, not applicable to 
all activities. There should be brief discussions of 
problem solving, drill, appreciation, ete., as applied 
to this unit. 

(dq) Standards of attainment. What should be the “mini- 
mal accomplishment” of pupils at the completion of 
the unit of work? The unit is taught to produce at 
the completion of the unit results in terms of (1) 
knowledges; (2) abilities; (3) skills; iy habits; 
(5) attitudes; and (6) ideals. 

(e) References. Rarscentes should not be mere book lists, 
but graded materials actually available. 

(f) Standard lists of supplies. Where there are supplies 
essential to the carrying out of the project, a list 
of these will be helpful. 

(g) Selection of graphic devices. Introduce lists, supplies, 
directions for the use of charts, graphs, slides, pic- 
tures, ete. 

(hk) Compilation of additional facts, data, tables, ete., not 
always accessible to teachers. Teachers lose valuable 
time in searching for materials not readily available. 
Sometimes essential materials can be included in sup- 
plements. 

(7) Development of type lessons. Give a stenographic re- 
port or some other detailed report of typical lessons. 

(j) Development of diagnostic and remedial measures. 
Carefully prepared diagnostic materials should lay 
the basis for a better understanding of the shortcom- 
ings of individual pupils. These should be followed 
by remedial measures. 


235 


SUBJECT MATTER 


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jo sopdroutid 
[ VyuoMUep 
-unj oy} Ajd 


-de 0} AWIqy 


sdnois 
SUISULIIV 
Ul = 9ouRleq 
pus uorjeu 
-Ipioqns jo 
gdioutid oy} 


osn 0} AITIGy 


Suroeds 105 
piese1 onp 
res Pus Up Ey 
-10doid poo3 
ut syoafqo Jo 
sdnois yuosol 


-dor1 0} AyTIGy 


uorssoi1d 
-xo JO suvour 
% se AlIpvor 
SUIMBIDp 


esn 0} AITIGy 





quourure} yy 


JO sprepueyg 





uy 
-soduiog ‘UMOCT 


Buryajay9 
pup aayads.ag 


pudyaal YY ‘W010 N 


61 “d's 
"ad ‘9e-pe “dd 
L “Aq ‘syoog 
wy payddy 
pud = pwrusnpuy 


GI-IT ‘dd ‘g 
“Id *L1-ST ‘dd 
L ‘Yq ‘syooq 


burnnug, aydpuy 


SOOUIIOJOY 





(UIv9I0) 

ioded 
SUIMBICT 
ese | 

ul X 16 
‘redeg 


W001 
JO SapIs 
syourqeva 
sireyo 
Sd be hake 
soxoq 
ECCT 
SOSBA 
STMOq 


:syoolqg 


[Bl10} eI 


FYSII SHOOT 
ql Jl dos 0} 9UO Sdjey YYsuU9T[ 


SWIe 48 BUIMGIP B SUIP[OH 


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puev oolj @ SB JIB souyep josey 


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oy} Wo “UoWesuBIIe puv 
uorjzodoid Apnjyg ‘ul yo0Tq 
puv yun wv se dnois oy} 4% 
jooyT ‘“uMOYsS ore AoY} YOM 
UIQJIM OUI] SUISOPUS oY} PUB 
Jay Ou 04 4Yoofqo 9UO Jo UOT}VT 


-o1 oY} YIM s[vep uoryIsodmo0y 


,, UOTPISOdUIOD ,, SV UMOUY 
‘Suioeds poos ‘yueulesuv1ie 
ezisvydurq = ‘syoofqo jo dnoiz 
% IO sjoofqo o[suIs Woy SUI 
-MBIP JoyyJYM ‘syoofqo o[qeyIns 


eSUBIIG PUB JOoTeS plnoys spidng 


‘OYO ,,“UOSYOUnNT,, 
F9OM WV,, APAOB ooyos 
oUlOS 9}¥IISNTI 0} ‘syoefqo Jo 
sdnois MBIp 0} allsep 0} spidnd 
peovy “Bvepl ue sseidxo ]]IM 
yey} ‘syoo[qo JO SUIMBIP 9} IOJ 


[189 TIAA YeVy} UOeNPS & 9}vIID 





Poy 


Sul 


-MGIp Jo Testviddy 
dnois 9y} ul yoo1g 


spofqo osuviry 


Sul 
-MBIp [Buy oy} Ul 
posn oq 04 vopI 
oy} jo seyojoys 


Areuruyoid =ayeyy 


A1r9yj0d 
pues ‘ommyruimmy 
eoqjo puw [ooyos 
‘auloy ‘s[oo}4 
‘sfisuejn SuDjooo 
‘sj00q sv ‘sjoofqo 
jo osn Suryeu 
s1oysod Jo sain} 


-o1d sjidnd moyg 


dedraeel§ 
poeyses3ng 


6g LUY NI YWALLV]Y LourdaAsg do LINQ, V JO NOILVZINVDYO FH 


SUIMBIG, 


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jo 9109) 





236 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


e 


The following illustration of unit organization is taken 


DOMESTIC ACTIVITIES 


I. Playing House 


(a) Arranging house 


(6) Furnishing house 


UNIT ORGANIZATION FOR THE 


MATERIALS 


Large blocks 

Sticks 

Boards 

Pieces of wall board 
Screens 

Chairs 

Tables 


Same as for building house, above 


Toy furniture 

Laundry equipment 

Dishes 

Furniture constructed of blocks, boxes 
(fruit, cigar, chalk), wood, mill- 
ends, lathe, scraps, from manual- 
training room 

Material for curtains, rugs, bedding 

Clay for dishes 

Work bench or large wooden blocks, 
pliers, hammer, saw, drill, nails 
(cigar box and shingle nails), 
screw-driver 

Paints and brushes 

Rugs 


a a a SE HE We 
40°*Course of Study for the Kindergarten,’’ Monograph No. 1, 


SUBJECT MATTER 


237 


from the Denver course of study for the kindergarten.*° 


KINDERGARTEN AS WORKED OvT IN DENVER 


OUTCOMES 


Appreciations 
1. Of the construction of a dwelling 
2. Of the labor involved in building 
Habits and Attitude 
. Being careful of companions in play 
. Not criticizing unkindly the work of others 
. Not dropping or throwing blocks 
Carrying material in correct manner 
Estimating amount and kind of material 
needed 
. Learning to use material to best advantage 
and in most lifelike manner: 
Lay blocks as bricks are laid 
Knowledge 
1. Ability to codperate in building, to be or 
to follow a leader 
2. To know material used in building, wood, 
brick, stone, cement, mortar, lath, glass, 
iron 
3. Ability to make and execute a plan 
4. Knowledge of terms: long, longer, 
wider, short, high, low front, back 
5. Ability to draw simple pictures of houses 


Oe & pe 


for) 


wide, 


Appreciation 
1. Of the need of rooms 
Skills and Facts of Knowledge 
1. Minimum number and name of rooms; 
kitchen, bath, sleeping, living 
2. Ability to make simple room plans 


Appreciations 
1. Of material to be used 
2. Of furniture to be made 
Habits and Attitude 
1. Handling tools correctly 
Skills and Facts of Knowledge 
1. Ability to construct simple chairs, tables, 
beds, cupboards, cradles 
. Ability to weave cr braid rugs 
. Ability to sew curtains and bedding 
. Ability to make clay dishes and decorate 
. Ability to make a simple design suited to 
article in size and color 


OT Pm 8 bo 


METHODS 


Talk about houses, material 
used in construction, kinds 
of houses; apartment, cot- 
tage, hotel 

Visit houses in process of 
construction and watch 
workmen employed, car- 
penter, plumber, mason 

Children should choose house 
to be built and _ direct 
building; work criticized 
by pupils and teacher and 
suggestions made for im- 
provement 

Teacher should insist upon 
children using correct con- 
struction and vocabulary 
when asking for material 
or help 

Definite work with the blocks 
might be given in connec- 
tion with this activity 


Talk about number of rooms 
needed for an average fam- 
ily. Discuss families rep- 
resented by the group 

Visit house to see arrange- 
ment and built-in features 

Begin idea of subtraction by 
contrasting size of families 

Encourage children to see 
the need of material not 
furnished and to bring to 
school pieces of muslin, 
boxes, nails, and so forth. 

Articles made should be 
judged by the group as to 
workmanship and_ prac- 
ticability 

Encourage the children to 
decorate their articles ar- 
tistically. Clay dishes may 
be decorated by making a 
design in the clay, and 
coloring with crayola or 
paint 





Publie Schools, Denver, Colorado, 1924, pp. 40-41. 


238 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


4. Teaching aids such as type lessons, diagnostic and 
remedial measures, supplementary ready information for 
teachers and, pupils, educational tests, etc. Space prohibits 
illustration of this material. Furthermore the items are 
already well known to competent supervisors and teachers. 
Practically all modern courses of study include excellent 
brief discussion of general and special method, examples of 
lesson plans, type procedure, the uses of tests, the inter- 
pretation of the results of testing, and so forth. 

Checking the effectiveness of the course of study. Asa 
step in the selection and organization of subject matter, the 
supervisor should check the extent to which the course of 
study as a document is of practical assistance to those who 
use it. 

F'rom general observation it would seem that supervisors 
are a bit hazy about the usableness of courses of study; at 
least no technique for checking this has as yet appeared. 
The data that follow were collected in connection with a 
survey of the Detroit Course of Study in English. The 
plan used is suggested as a good one for the study of 
effectiveness of other instructional materials. 


QUESTIONNAIRE 


Explanation: The Detroit Course of Study in English is to be 
revised and reprinted. A committee has been appointed to work 
under Miss Beverley’s direction on the needed revisions. You will 
confer a great favor if you will answer the questions listed below 
and return this questionnaire to Miss Clara Beverley, English Depart- 
ment, Room 510, Yost Building, Washington Boulevard and Grand 
River, not later than March 1. 


Directions: Check the answer which most nearly expresses your 
opinion, or supply an answer. 


SUBJECT MATTER 239 


Organization of the Book 

1. Do you have difficulty 
in finding things in 
the book? 

2. What arrangement of 
the book would you 
think most  desir- 
able? 


3. What kind of index 
do you think most 
valuable? 


Specific Chan ges Recommended 


1. In the accompanying 
chart check thus (V), 
those grades for which 
the course is_ satis- 
factory and thus (X) 
those for which it is 
not. Leave spaces 
blank in those cases 
where you feel that you 
have not had sufficient 
experience to judge. 
Explain all (X) an- 
swers. 


He Whe Pv 


me coho re 


None 


. A little 
. A great deal 


. The arrangement of the present 


course (contents arranged under 
three heads: standards, methods, 
materials) 


. Contents ,grouped by subjects (4. ¢., 


all discussion of oral composition 
in one place, of written composi- 
tion in another, etc.) 


. Contents grouped by grade 
. A separate volume for each grade 


. By grades as in the present course 
. A general alphabetical index by items 
. By subjects (literature, oral compo- 


sition, etc.) 


. A separate index for standards, one 


for methods and one for materials 


Stand- | Meth- 
ards ods 


Mater- 
ials 


Grades 

















240 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


2. As in the above question 
check thus (V), those 
items which the course 
handles _ satisfactorily, 
and thus (X)_ those 
unsatisfactorily cared 
for. Elaborate all (X) 
answers, 


Miscellaneous 


Items 


Oral Composi- 


tion 


Written Com- 


positon 


Letter writing 


Reproduction 


Capitals 


Punctuation 


Sentence sense 


Vocabulary 


Grammar 
forms 


Dictation 


Oral Reading, 


Mechs. 


Enunciation 


Interpretation, 


Appreciation 


Literature 


1. What needs, if any, in your 
teaching of English, has this 


course failed to satisfy? 


Stand- 
ards 





Meth- 
ods 








SUBJECT MATTER 24] 


2. List here any suggestions you 
have which are not covered 
by the questions above. 


Eatent of Use 
1. How often do you normally 
refer to the course? 


2. To what extent do you follow 
this course in your teaching? 


Content 
1. Have you found the discussion 
of standards helpful? 


to 


. Have you found the discussion 
of methods helpful? 


we) 


. Have you found the discussion 
of materials helpful? 


4, What parts of the course, if 
any, do you think could be 
left out without impairing its 
usefulness? 


5. What, if anything, has been 
omitted that should be in- 
cluded? 














G2 bo et Go Do et 


Go bo 


. Not at all 


Once a semester 
Once a month 
Once a week 


. Once a day 
. Several times daily 


- Not at all 
. Partially 
. Entirely 


. Not at all 
. Fairly so 
a Very 


. Not at all 
. Fairly so 
«ery. 


. Not at all 
. Fairly so 
¥ Very. 


242 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


§. Are the materials suggested 
available in the building 
where you now teach. 


Miscellaneous 
1. Should the course take cog- 
nizance of the platoon 
organization by defining 
the respective duties of 
home and literature teach- 
ers in English instruction? 


2. Should the course differen- 
tiate between X, Y, Z 
pupils in matters of stan- 
dards, etc.? 


3. Wherein, if not all, is the 
course not adapted to the 
teaching of foreign chil- 
dren? 


4.Is the book mechanically 
satisfactory (type, bind- 
ing, paper, etc.) ? 


oo De 


Go Do et 


1. Only to a slight degree 
ae 
3. Completely 


In part 


. Yes 
. No 
. Don’t know 


. yes 
. No 
. Don’t Know 


SUBJECT MATTER 243 


SprecIFIc CHANGES RECOMMENDED 


Handled Satisfactorily 
Handled Unsatisfactorily 


Grades|Stand-| Meth-|Mate-| Total) % Items |Stand-|Meth-|/Mate-|Total| % 






































ards ods | rials ards | ods | rials 
1B 26 25 23 74 |90.2}] Oral 183 149 | 148 480 |91.7 
3 1 4 8 9.8} Comp. 8 20 15 43 | 8.3 
20 Pat f 24 78 |87.7| Written 178 141 | 142 | 461 |94.4 
1A 4 2 5 11 |12.3] Comp. 6 12 9 27 | 5.6 
35 | 34 | 29 | 98 |89.0| Letter 175 | 157 | 148 | 480 |95.8 
23 2 3 vi 12 |11.0|) Writing 9 6 6 21 | 4.2 
43 43 37 |123 |90.3] Repro- 172 152] 142 466 |95.3 
wk 3 2 if 12 | 9.7} duction 9 10 14 33 | 4.7 


ee | Tf | | | | Sf |. 











—————— |__| | ef ff | 










































































3A 3 4 | 14 | 21 |12. | tion 2 ei Miee 8 15 
65 57 47 |169 |90.8] Sentence 163 144 | 133 440 |92.4 
4B 2 3 12 17 9.2} Sense 9 13 14 36 | 7.6 
76 64 58 |198 |90.7] Vocabu- 154 Lobelelod 426 |95.3 
4a 2 5 12 19 | 9.3] lary 7 8 6 215 4,7. 
AS) 64 57 |196 |88.2} Grammar| 174 132 | 134 440 |95.6 
5B 5 fe 14 26 {11.8} Forms 8 6 6 20 | 4.4 
06: 63 57 1193 |92.3] Dictation| 156 1398) 123 418 |92.2 
5A 3 3 10 16 thstf 9 8 18 35 | 7.8 
ois 69 63 }207 |91.1] Reading, 136 nO) {| P40) 376 |96.6 
6B 4 5 i 20 8.9 etc. 4 4 5 13 | 3.4 
69 69 58 |196 |90.3] Fnuncia- 137 T4 3H OL Ee 397 j95.2 
6A 5 4 12 PH 9.7| tion 4 i 9 20 | 4.8 
61 54 48 |163 |92.6| Interpre- | 132 T1204} TIT 17355 139-6 
7B 3 4 6 ils 7.4| tation iP? 17 14 43 |10.4 
50 43 38 | 131 |92.2| Litera- 134 114 | 108 356 |83. 
TA Pe 4 5 11 7.8| ture 19 22 32 f(s ele 











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SA 1 3 oiler elt 6: 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


244 





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245 


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GUIVNNOILSHA’) JO AUVAWOG 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


246 


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SUBJECT MATTER 


NEEDS Nort SATISFIED 


BQN errr ree Sayer" W ate cluts'tn ce’ 6’ saree wale store ofeie%e'sniy EBS SE See 
Stories and poems ‘lack INLOLOS Ge peti sialic a hinieihis sale xis e/a ap 
Greater variety of stories and poemS..........-.esecesese 
SALORLORMVALIOL MOLE MOUCIG: oe Ai titles fcrie'p caste sltiene 6 6 «plan « 
New and more methods in reproduction.................. 
More stories for outside Seen s AE ERR eS RYO LEEPER 
PGaeereeres OMeAY te DUDS: acite bra 0 4 9 «a «ca a el ein) Gis kasi 40's 
More dictation drills Mars eeehs ao Aaa Yo kiniea.s sean ohete a eb e he te 
Definite outline in grammar for 7th and 8th high school 

MPOURLE LIA E. pt clale c's <6 6's'p sixpie she sie de sice a0 © Rens cer SOP pane 
Arrangement of course wastes time.......... Here Ley We 
Illustrative lessons in socialized composition.............. 
More definite technical work in 6th grade................. 
Variety of interesting letter forms....... BS TAR AEE 
RLM OOH ULAT VT OULU cigte ccc hiss os ois ot cc's aic.s Seg nite @ 
LETRA G EMSA ERTL! Sorelle Rag DP PR ie ARR es rs oP Ae 


More type lessons in Silent Reading (separate volume) 


Newer titles for oral and written composition............. 
PP CmMESS PRE OWT ILC LCV crate oio'n wie'S-siee cia eas.s, 12 so ois one e iets eins 


New index eeesevev eevee eeeeeeeeeeveee e+ @ O18 €. 66 2 ©. 2'@ 0 4 818 a4ze €. 6 e & 


Parts To INCLUDE 


No. of 
Teachers 

PEPER Mesa atts f.5. 000 sine. 0.6 6 3 Rami Piste one tis, See aya ofan, nls 
Pe 8G ELE oO eR IE FR gr Sa I 3 
Longer list of stories (poems) for outside reading and 

ELM rele aie? sh ccnaain vas 0495 idk d 6.0. ¢ + vivid bos. 6 
EON OIN EN (A) OTOUDS, «5 acs cc's dais sn ane 1 
Methods in silent reading (‘‘C’’ group) separate 

a S Fos sia o Ssus av hile Avie es. «0 a ane heels eh 4 
Grammar forms elaborated—larger amount......... 3 
eee ee oS oly cag sata’ Sie.e ss 0 0 0' egelesnnh boas 2 
Sentence sense and language games—more.......... 2 
More general references.......... wis cigs sieabenk samo ied + 
Se eee eLOMPOIEY, WIIG Ss o's 0 sae wieie's.0% 0 = syed lems 2 
MIGRATE T OU WOK toe. e's! his ees AR SSA Or ree 2 
New methods in appreciation. ait ort «toe pias dt As scan buh 2 
List of stories for dramatics—not infringe on audi- 

LTE I OMIT ohn) os in: Piste vais we aisis, alba die ole ae 1 
Suggestions for issuing school paper............... 1 
Teaching of alphabet, weeks, months, years, etc...... 1 
Names of masterpieces children should know........ 1 


247 


Per Cent 


Onmond > 


Go DO Ge DS OT DO DO DO DO CY CO OT 


Per 
Cent 
34.0 

5.6 


3 
at 


4 
bd be 


NOnNmnnnnuns 


a be 
i es es 


248. THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


SUGGESTIONS 
No 
IN ONG iis is truieto alalece pielelele sat ele, eoaterate ns cceustsaale a Mabel siete te os drele ie « Winter 8 
Complete reorganization by grades—save time...... ola aay. uncaie te anes 
Have a definite course for home and literature room.......... 9 
Have heading at top of each page telling grade.......... Agee A 
List.of stories,” poenis,’ éte:,; for special days. op. weeks ge 1 
Suggestions for correlation between literature and other subjects 2 
Givesnames instead of numbers Of: DOOKS 00... «eam eure en eee 2 
Literature teacher has too much/to' do... ..".. 2 <.. ecw cevcteaen 1 
Home room teacher has too much clerical work to do coup Daa 2 
Have books called for in school libraries..... re Sage ee os i + 
Aids for handling newer methods—definite............... «4 oie Se 
Fewer sets of many books; more sets of fewer books.,....... 1 
Scale for scoring composition convenient to use in 3rd and 4th 1 
More; detailed Courses: vice eh aie ee 14.6 os saint e Ver ere De sian ee 
Reference books should include—Esssentials of English, Pearson 
ANA CCIrCh Wey is, «6% & eee sehldamertere lets sie sic occ het cae 1 
Bulletin No. 37—Course of Study in Elementary and Secondary 
Schools of Washington—interesting discussion......... 6a os cin 
Preter, classics in :/thiand sth eradess. . sc’: «so emtatane sae oa aee 
Have new course bound so that material can be added......... 1 
More ‘adequate ‘picture appreciation. 24). << i. 2.0 aes eee Perec. (a) 
Havevan initial and final dictation test... ).1.1 seen see ee 1 
Like biographical sketches similar to “Riley & Freckle Re- 
NOVO 8 oo oa eid ace elwy weearatiadeehl cig’ vim wils hop 9 oyshe otal tale) aie ion ee a 
Booklet of long poems for use in 6th, 7th and 8th grades (Birds 
Of wKillingworth,) aici. tiie. eietele steie sie. ee eae p bib aie le steep smn! 
Would like poems printed in course of study.. APA. Serie Se 1 
More; suggestions for enunciation... sic s.c< sess aera cee 1 


Reference books no longer supplied should be ‘taken from list. . SUE 


EXPLANATION (X) ANSWERS 
Oral and Written Composition 


No. of 
Teachers 
Socialized method preferred—give sample lessons.......... 12 
Subjects for written compositions—limited................ 2 
More. dictation material) ij veisiee. thc cece es See Giese Palen 
Copying and testing step unnecessary in dictation.......... 1 
Not enough sentence sense material..........:.....cc0ce- 13 
Business letters and formal invitations taken too early...... i 
More paragraph work similar to ‘‘ Ant and Dove’’......... 3 
Exercises in enunciation needed in upper grades........... 4 
Insufficient. letter. models .\.Ps ese oe vc ee see ee eer 2 
More explanation of methods in punctuation............... 1 
More language games—vocabulary games...............:: 6 
‘*Methods of Correction,’’ p. 70, poor; impossible for pope 1 


More formal grammar taught in ‘lower grades, 5th and 6th. 3 


SUBJECT MATTER 249 


No. of 

Teachers 

Begin formal grammar in B8, not in seventh; games....... 
Standards not satisfactory for X, Y, Z groups............ 
Word list is not practical—should include common words.... 
Material and references grouped according to seasons...... 
Home room teacher should have composition in 3rd and 4th 
Pupils dislike composition work in literature room......... 
Suggest more simple form for papers in lower grades: Name 
on first line, date on second, title on third (p. 214)...... 


bet be CD ed 


rsh 


EXPLANATION (X) ANSWERS 
Literature 


ear 


PERRIN ECS DEMIS siateteeye Micke ao s'a aia cip ls & ob 45 9 wig nares) alsa se 
Need more stories and poems for special days tir tre tees 4 
List of stories and poems in alphabetical order............ 
Need standards for reproduction in first three grades...... 
Need more stories,(Classics) and poems for Literature class 
Selections for different grades unsuitable................. 
Need new material in first four grades.......... Ae sd) An deh. 
More humorous stories and poems......... pd eal Celene et 
mibories tOO Old. ForsGBy o..s were sles oe oe Edie Hate ohh 9 hove erates 
Methods—not new and too meager......cessscsccccccccees 
stories do not appeal to foreign children... 0.0.0. .3 ev ees 
Give more than one reference for each story............... 
Methods for checking appreciation as a result of experiment 
Reading in Literature room. Too much time lost in home 

room Winglish ¢ i056 os Biers orate Wee tps cat a lerwteqevbeneteuereue eke 


food 


4 
bo He bo bo DO DD Oo He OD 03 Oo WO OO DO 





More stress on Oral Reading with foreign children......... 
Course should contain notes on ‘‘Socialized English’’...... 
Amount of work is satisfactory; arrangement not......... 
Large platoon schools (Moore) need more copies of much- 

Me OPES TAGE sk leo te'5 fo be, Saleh» erate te wteig $968 bye eels! e ache 
Foreign pupils in 5th and 6th need stress on verb forms— 

eee MEE SRC facls p a\n wala gi ste cares oe Se ce UR eas Vea eis 1 
Too great a difference between picture work in 44 and 

Or eam CAPTT CELIAC AITY CODE 31,5 9 sc ure plenlaeys siaie; ofeis New Sela, + 1 


sl 


summary outline for judging courses of study. Some 
such outline as the following is proposed for the appraisal 
and improving of courses of study: 

1. Is there a statement of aims or objectives? 

2. Are the objectives listed worthy of attainment? 

3. Are the objectives attainable? 

4. Is there a statement of the specific activities, pupil 


250 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


experiences, and content by which the various objectives are 
to be attained ? 

5. Are the activities, pupil experiences, and content of 
social value? 

6. Are the activities, pupil experiences, and content of 
vital importance? 

7. Are the activities, pupil experiences, and content de- 
termined according to acceptable objective methods? 

8. Is there a statement of the standards of attainment 
for each half grade? 

9. Is there an adequate statement of ‘‘method’’ for each 
‘‘unit of instruction’? 

10. Are the ‘‘methods’’ practical and up-to-date? 

11. Is there reasonable provision for the various forms 
of experiences, such as participation, observation, and lan- 
guage experiences ? 

12. Is the amount of work required of each grade (mini- 
mum essentials) too great or too small for the time allotted ? 

13. Is there adequate provision for individual differ- 
ences? 

14. Is the material too easy or too difficult for the grades 
for which it is intended? 

15. Are the explanations and directions to teachers ade- 
quate? 

16. Are the directions to teachers understandable? 

17. Are the references adequate? 

18. Is there a teaching outline (suggestive) for the guid- 
ance of classroom teachers? 

19. Are the drawings, pictures, diagrams, maps, etc., 
helpful to teachers ? 

20. Are there an index, table of contents, and other de- 
vices to make the content of the course of study readily 
accessible to teachers ? 

21. There is additional information—facts, dates, tables, 
ete.—not always accessible to classroom teachers. Is there 


SUBJECT MATTER 251 


a concise statement of such materials (where not already 
available) ? 

22. Are there conerete examples of how certain type les- 
sons should be developed? 

23. Classroom teachers do not always find time to dis- 
cover available illustrative (visual) materials, Is there a 
statement of available materials? 

24. Many teachers precede instruction by diagnosis. Are 
there sample forms and a concrete discussion of how teach- 
ers may use informal examinations, and other devices, to 
improve the effectiveness of teaching ? 

25. Is there a statement of the best standard tests avail- 
able and an explanation of the way to use them? 

26. At times teachers are at a loss to know how to pro- 
ceed to overcome specific shortcomings in their pupils. Is 
there a concrete discussion of remedial measures ? 

27. Are there suggestions for the adaptation of the course 
of study to local conditions ? 

28. Is the course of study interesting and readable? 

29. Does the teacher find the material of sufficient value 
to make daily use of it? 

30. Under classroom conditions, does the course of study 
actually work ? 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


1. AturucKrer, Margaret M., “Building the Curriculum,” Wa- 
tional Education Association Journal, Vol. 13, Feb., 1924, 
pp. 67-68. 

, “Notes on Curriculum Revision,” National Education 
Association Journal, Vol. 13, Dec., 1924, p. 344. 

3. Barnes, G. I., “Underlying Principles and Modern Tenden- 
cies in Curriculum Making,” Kentucky School Journal, 
Vol. 4, Oct., 1925, pp. 10-15. Good summary of major 
objectives. 

4, The Baltimore County Course of Study (Warwick and York, 
1919). Good illustration of well-selected subject matter. 





252 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


On 


20. 


21. 


Barr, A. S., “Making the Course of Study,’ Journal of 
Educational Method, Vol. 3, May, 1924, pp. 371-78, Part 
II, June, 1924, pp. 427-36. 


. BLAKE, Katherine D., “Revising the Elementary Curriculum,” 


National Education Association Journal, Vol 11, Nov., 
1922, pp. 355-59. Interesting and practical treatment of 
content of new courses. 


. Bossirt, Franklin, “Summary of the Literature in Scientific 


Method in the Field of Curriculum Making,” Hlementary 
School Journal, Vol. 18, Nov., 1917, pp. 219-29. 

, The Curriculum (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1918). 

, How to Make a Curriculum (Houghton Mifflin Co., 
1924). 








. Bonser, F. G., The Elementary School Curriculum (The Mac- 


millan Co., 1921). 


. Burton, W. H., Supervision and the Improvement of Teach- 


ing (D. Appleton & Co., 1922), Chap. XII. 


. CautKins, Mary W., “Types and Principles of Curricular 


Development,” School and Society, Vol. 17, March 21, 1923, 
pp. 309-16. Interesting account. 


. Cuarters, W. W., Curriculum, Construction (The Macmillan 


Co., 1923). Contains a valuable summary of the scientific 
studies to date. 


. Coss, Irvin, “A Plea for Old Cap Collier,” Saturday Evening 


Post, Vol. 193, July 3, 1920. Highly humorous but none 
the less pedagogical criticism of school readers. 


. Cotvin, 8. 8., An Introduction to High School Teaching 


(The Macmillan Co., 1918). 


. Cox, Philip, Curriculum, Adjustment in the Secondary School 


(J. B. Lippincott Co., 1925). 


- “Curriculum Construction,” a Series of Reports, Proceedings 


of the National Education Association, Vol. 65, 1925, pp. 
802-38. Good account of how to go about curriculum re- 
vision. 


. Department of Superintendence, National Education <Asso- 


ciation, Second Yearbook, Feb., 1924. Devoted to the eur- 
riculum problem. Excellent material. 


. Denver, Colorado, Course of Study Monographs, Nos. 1-6. 


Fine illustration of modern curriculum construction. 
Dewey, John, The Child and the Curriculum (University of 
Chicago Press, 1902). 
FREELAND, G. E., Modern Elementary School Practice (The 


22. 


23. 


24. 
25. 


26. 


27. 


28. 


29. 


30. 


31. 


32. 


33. 


34. 


35. 


SUBJECT MATTER 253 


Maemillan. Co., 1919), pp. 189-265. Good. discussion of 
subject matter selection. Concrete illustrations. 

Gray, W. S., “The Work of the Elementary School Princi- 
pals,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 19, Sept., 1918, 
pp. 24-35. 

GoopHEW, Lilly, “Art Outlines for Grade Eight,” Detroit 
Course of Study, Detroit, Mich. 

Hatu-Quest, A. L., The Textbook (The Macmillan Co., 1918). 

Kyrr, George C., “The Cooperative Development of a Course 
of Study,” Educational Administration and Supervision, 
Vol. 9, Dec., 1923, pp. 517-36. Valuable discussion. Much 
concrete material. Outline procedure. 

Lui, H. G., “Teacher Training in Curriculum Building,” 
Educational Administration and Supervision, Vol. 11, Oct., 
1925, pp. 452-64. Good. 

McMorry, C. H., How to Organize the Curriculum (The 
Maemillan Co., 1923). 

McMorry, F. M., Elementary School Standards (World 
Book Co., 1914), pp. 79-172. Very valuable discussion of 
subject matter. 

Merriam, J. L., Child Life and the Curriculum (World Book 
Co., 1914). Interesting treatment of subject matter, mak- 
ing prominent the child’s interests. 

Minor, Ruby, “Making the Course of Study,” Elementary 
School Journal, Vol. 22, May, 1922, pp...655 ff. 

National Society for the Study of Education, Fourteenth, 
Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Yearbooks, Part I, Eighteenth 
Yearbook, Part II. These volumes contain a valuable dis- 
cussion of minimum essentials in various subjects. Nine- 
teenth and Twentieth Yearbooks, Part I in each ease, con- 
tain excellent and immediately usable collections of well- 
selected subject matter. 

Nort, H. W., The Supervision of Instruction (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1920). 

PARKER, 8. C., General Methods of Teaching in Elementary 
Schools (Ginn & Co., 1919), pp. 84-155. Methods of Teach- 
ing in High Schools (Ginn & Co., revised, 1920), pp. 
50-93. 

ParxKer, 8. C., and Tempre, Alice, Unified Kindergarten and 
First Grade Teaching (Ginn & Co., 1925), Chaps. IV and V. 

Ruae, H. O., and Cuarxk, J. R., “Scientific Method in the 
Reconstruction of Ninth Grade Mathematics,” Supple- 


294 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


mentary Educational Monographs, Vol.. 2, April, 1918. 
Account of scientific procedure in reconstructing text ma- 
terial. 

36. “The Speyer School Curriculum,” Teachers College Bureau 
of Publications, 1913. A well-known early course of study. 
Subject matter of interest. 

37. THomason, C. C., “Use of a Planning Board in Curriculum 
Designing,” Educational Administration and Supervision, 
Vol. 11, Oct., 1925, pp. 481-88. 

38. THRELKELD, A. S., “Curriculum Revision,” Elementary 
School Journal, Vol. 25, April, 1925, pp. 573-82. Excel- 
lent practical account of the Denver attack upon the prob- 
lem. 


CHAPTER VIII 


THE SELECTION AND STANDARDIZATION OF THE MATERIALS OF 
INSTRUCTION 


The selection and standardization of instructional ma- 
terials important. Better teaching and richer experiences 
for pupils are dependent upon the physical setting out of 
which learning must come. For that reason the selection 
and standardization of the materials of instruction are 
important means of improving teaching. Teaching and 
learning are dependent in some measure upon the textbook 
materials, upon the number and quality of reference books 
available, upon the kinds and amounts of instructional sup- 
plies, and upon the suitability of the equipment provided. 
Supervision is directly concerned with each of these items. 
It is of little value to develop progressive courses of study, 
and have textbooks that do not harmonize with the objective 
sought. Supplies and equipment, too, directly affect the 
quality of teaching; if they are selected on the basis of 
price, outward appearance, ete., and not upon the basis of 
pedagogical fitness, they may seriously hinder learning. 
Textbooks, supplies, classroom supplies, and course of study 
should represent a harmonized point of view, and should 
not work at cross purposes. 

Close codperation necessary between administrators and 
supervisors. Many supervisors have seen the importance 
of careful selection of materials of instruction, and as a 
result have become involved in quantities of detailed clerical 
work. In many school systems, requisitions for books, sup- 
plies, and equipment go directly from the teacher to super- 

255 


256 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


visors. The supervisor either is so pressed for time that 
he does the job poorly, or, if he gives the job the attention 
it requires, he finds little time for other aspects of his work. 
Supervisors should doubtless function largely in selecting 
materials and in setting up standards of distribution, but. 
should leave to the administrative staff the routine of pur- 
chasing, handling orders, deliveries, ete. 

Most teaching is textbook teaching. Most teachers are 
textbook teachers. Beginning teachers particularly are in- 
clined to follow the textbook quite religiously. It follows, 
therefore, that what is taught pupils is determined largely 
by the content of the textbook in use. Such is the situation 
in many schools. Thus considered, an important factor ina 
program for the improvement of teaching is the selection 
of textbooks. The course of study, unless it is given in 
great detail, must be closely correlated with available text- 
book materials if it is to be most effective. Some teachers 
lose themselves by deserting the textbook; others fail to. 
teach effectively by too rigorous adherence to one. 

Pupil experiences limited by classroom equipment. 
Just as pupil experiences are limited by the character of the 
textbook in use, so are pupils limited by the character of 
classroom equipment available. Generally speaking, the 
pupil’s ability to learn is limited by the physical setting 
within which learning must take place. Specifically, pupils 
are handicapped in their study of history, geography, etc., 
when they lack maps, charts, pictures, and the like. Tra- 
ditionally, the classroom equipment of certain subjects has 
become well established, whereas the equipment in others is 
not so well developed. Certain subjects have, for example, 
become laboratory subjects, whereas others have become: 
textbook subjects. Reading, it should be remembered, is. 
only one of a number of ways of acquiring experiences, 
In those subjects where learning through direct participa- 
tion has not seemed feasible, learning through observation 


THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 257 


and the use of visual aids has come into use. Materials 
should be chosen to give to pupils as wide a range of 
experience as possible. Practically, these experiences 
should include reading, observing, and manipulating activ- 
ities. 

Classroom teachers are not trained in the use of supple- 
mentary equipment. Supervisors should not assume that 
their responsibility ends with the purchase of desirable 
equipment. Teachers must be taught to use it. Too often 
valuable equipment is allowed to collect a considerable 
amount of dust. The fact that a certain school is sup- 
plied with a stereopticon or stereographs does not mean 
that they are used, or being used does not mean that they 
are being used wisely. The supervised study movement has 
done much to obtain a better use of textbooks. Some simi- 
lar movement is needed to teach the use of classroom equip- 
ment. 

The selection of textbooks. Space will not permit an 
adequate discussion of each of the three types of instruc- 
tional materials, textbooks, supplies, and classroom equip- 
ment. The selection of textbooks will be discussed some- 
what in detail, the two remaining topics more briefly. 
Maxwell, turning immediately to the selection of textbooks, 
points out five ways of doing it. 


1. Selection by the board of education 

2. Selection by the superintendent working independently 

3. Selection by special supervisors working under the direction 
of the superintendent 

4. Selection by committees of teachers 

5. Selection by teacher, principal, and supervisor in codpera- 
tion with the superintendent 


Without discussing the relative merits of the several 


1C, R. Maxwell, The Selection of Textbooks (Houghton Mifflin Co., 
1921), pp. 24-33. 


208 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


plans of selecting textbooks, one very pressing need is for a 
more objective procedure or criterion for making more effi- 
cient the work of the selecting agency. A recent movement 
which promises assistance is the development of standards 
for the selection of texts. 

The development of standards for the selection of text- 
books. The selection of textbooks presents a difficult 
problem. There is need for definite standards for the guid- 
ance of supervisors in the work. Although score cards for 
judging textbooks are not perfect, they give obviously bet- 
ter results than unguided judgments. There are available 
any number of good score cards which should serve as valu- 
able tools in the hands of the intelligent supervisor. Their 
greatest shortcoming has been their subjective character. 
Items other than mechanical ones have been difficult to ana- 
lyze and evaluate. Supervisors should, however, acquaint 
themselves with such materials asareavailable. Three illus- 
trations of score cards for the selection of textbooks are 
given in the pages following: 

A check list for any high-school textbook. Under the 
direction of Franklin W. Johnson, a group of students in 
supervision worked out the check list given below: ? 


THE CHECKING LIST 


A. General Considerations 


1. Do the training and educational experience of the author 
qualify him as an authority? 

2. Does the reputation of the publisher assure a dependable 
text? 

3. Is the copyright of recent date? 

4, Has the text a well-defined point of view in accord with 
accepted educational aims? 


2 Franklin W. Johnson, ‘‘A Checking List for the Selection of 
High School Textbooks,’’ Teachers College Record, Vol. 27, Oct., 1925, 
pp. 104-108. 


THE.MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 209 


5. Is the style clear, attractive, stimulating, and adapted to 
the age-level of pupils? 


B. Subject Matter 


1. Selection 

(a) Is the subject matter of the text adapted to the 
needs of the community for which a text is to 
be chosen? 

(b) Has the material been selected with due regard to 
the principle of relative values? 

(c) Are there enough details, so chosen as to give 
meaning to the main topics? 

(d@) Is there an abundance of material from which 
selection may be made to meet the needs, capaci- 
ties, and experiences of individuals and differ- 
entiated groups? 


2. Organization 

(a) Is the material organized with regard to the psy- 
chology of the pupil rather than to the logic 
of the subject? 

(b) Is there an intensive treatment of a few main 
topies rather than an encyclopedic treatment of 
many? 

(c) Is the arrangement of material cumulative in ef- 
fect and yet independent enough to permit the 
omission of parts? 

(d) Does the book as a whole give a unified impres- 
sion? 


C. Helps and Aids to Instruction 


1. Does the teacher’s preface explain the particular point 
of view of the author and give suggestions for the 
use of the text? 

2. Is there an intimate and provocative introduction for 
pupils? 

3. Is the table of contents full enough to show the outline of 
the book? 

4. Is the index full and so arranged that the material may 
be easily found? 

5. Does the glossary give the meaning and pronunciation 
of unusual and difficult words? 


260 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


. Does the appendix contain adequate drill material, tables, 


charts, etc.? 


. Are the illustrations, maps, sketches, etc., simple, clear, 


suitable, and attractive? 


. Are the references definite, annotated, evaluated, adapted 


to the pupils? 


. Are there pointed and thought-provoking summaries and 


reviews at the end of each unit? 


. Are there definite and varied study-helps? 
. Are there at the end of the book general reviews 


requiring thought and reorganization of subject mat- 
ter? 


. Is there sufficient, interesting, and varied drill material 


in the chapters as well as in the appendix? 


D. Mechanical Make-up 


ae 
2. 


3. 


The 


Is the binding durable, flexible, pleasing? 

Is the paper suitable for cuts as well as for reading 
without eyestrain? 

Is the type clear, properly spaced, of a size that is 
easily read? 


. Is the material well arranged on the page, with distinct 


topical headings? 


. Is the whole make-up attractive? 


foregoing check list for texts in general, and the 


following one for history texts, are both supplied with ex- 
planatory statements interpreting more fully the items 


listed. 


These statements which are helpful in the actual 


application of the check lists are too long for inclusion here 
but should be studied in the original citation. The sum- 
mary of Hall-Quest’s Cincinnati standards which follows 
the history check list below is illustrative of the type 
of material accompanying most score ecards or check 


lists. 


THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 261 


A ScALE FOR MEASURING H1GH-ScHOoOoL TEXTBOOKS IN HISTORY 


PpOOLOT eer e AT Meee sores alahcle c eleva ule cldlehe ch Wa cla a's eecle's ohle 


Directions 


Read the following key ... before making following re- 
port. Opposite each quality is a scale on which may be indi- 
cated five shades of judgment from “Very Poor’ to “Excellent.” 
After due consideration place on this scale a small x indicating 
your judgment of the book as to that: quality. In column headed 
“Score” place the numerical values corresponding to your shade 
of judgment as indicated in the example. Total these values and 
divide this total by the number of qualities under that major 
point. Place the result at the right of the calculation in the 
column headed “T.” 

Record your judgment on all the qualities of merit in the same 
manner, add the general ratings and divide by the number of 
ratings under each main division. Add “T” scores; the results 
here found will be your rating of the book on the basis of 100 
per cent. This rating of the book is your judgment of the gen- 
eral merit and is to be made on the basis of the detailed record. 


3 Pell, George R., ‘‘A Scale for Measuring High-school Textbooks 
in History.’’ Master’s Thesis, University of Chicago, 1925. 


262 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


EFFICIENCY RECORD 








General Rating or. vc Lares 2 4 6 8 10 
Db Score} T. 
Qualities of Merit......... Mane Poor | Med.! Good] Ex. 


a | | | | || | 


I. Mechanical Elements: 

1. Size and appear- 
ance of bookeghs cE Gel ice sind svcttios |e eee 
2. Quality of paper) fS2. : |... .. /a2 ic o] eae] eee ee 

3. Size and clear- 
ness of type oy] Pesce louie ooh sc ee ben he lets ee 
4. Size, and --wadth) Toa. iet |e 
of margins). yet ise oe ss SIS ae ee 
5. Bind of book.) Ses). es se ee 

II. Maps, Charts and Dia- 

grams: 

. Contributions. £49 Bed cas «cs] bes as Ses ieee eee ee 
e Objective ..wiaiede geal al ido sd | elect | ete eee 
« Proportion: ai aa] ut ell aed is i) sel ce Bee 
« Concrete. che a scdige ds |s « space | song hoeeeere aa a ae 
» Practical. . vaio fem we le cols okt onde betel: eee ae 


© 6G. 6 O10 sie whe 6's. 0 oe] « 6 ©. 6 ©'| oh eo © 0' |e, ete « wie ie «ee | Glee bute Menta eae 


. Interesting. [og |e ses cba oot feee eee ee ee 
= Deseriptives Fete. cals [i 315. dems) peered le et ee 
« Relation six. Sc ckicl Beccsse. afs, ol buedsibe ine eas Cte eee Lee 


SCOONATPWNe 
< 
ie) 
— 
for} 
oO 


a 


—_-——— | ——_—_—_—. | —————————_)s | | | | 


III. Pictures and Illustra- 
tions: 
; Contributionsi2o)..0,. 7. hy ae, ee 
. Objective 16. SA. Meda. Se SE ae ee 
. Quality and ar- 
tistic. value ilo fied) os eee ee eee 
»PPOPOTEION 2 sabe cst ac] ccs « oo bo antie af cece Senet ae 
» Practical oc cls|sscaelicccclon eb] ee abel ce 


ore) mi Goh = 


IV. Organization of Sub- 
ject Matter: 

1: Organization .% .}\ i... <0. Pe ee ee | 

2. Divisions 25 604025 die se cole eel eke eee 


THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 263 


EFFriclency Rrecorp—Continued 





General Rating............ | 2 4 6 8 10 


| | 


an Poor |Med. | Good} Ex. 


—— | | | | fe | 


Qualities of Merit......... 


IV. Organization of Sub- 
ject Matter 
—Cont. 

3. Topicalanddate- 
boundary, per 
cent of time 
PEO SDACE sony. Lecce waliy he toa hy Pee mene ee Pet eae heed, 





V. Presentation and 
Treatment of 
Subject Mat- 
ter: 


Ne 
rg 
pr 
2) 
gg 
ber | 
iq?) 
nN 
DM 
pe 
< 
far) 
} 
fe) 
fi 


MAA emereets Wale rath fe tere 6 oh c55: (hate aul are pea | alc 
. Unity and co- 

DETEN COS ere fee al Seco cc ck baie ote; WL ae WAR sere Pte 
. Historical  bal- 


BPA DDTORC hanes eee Pets S/o ls shale Were eae orci Gear 
MUN DISSE tie eee tees Medd tal. Pence cere end seep nateches ola 
ARATE ie Sabet Sy 8 A Se | ee oan BAG Kerby ea APNEA At fe OS 
MAPODEI Otis tee er ren eS yids den Perera ote Sigeds 
MLCOPestal Oana tee: (ree aes. Tsdole aga ee mee ate a at tiaceks 
PI ELO- COS ew Ta le. Os phos ols dcate he eather ae Ls one 


VI. Topical and Subtopi- t 
cal Headings: 

EU CSTATONIES, Se JR 0 a SRS paar Buri ie oO SG Bares tena 
BUEREPPOIEIUCN Gre Pe tea Le eh a ls REN UE E SE. atl o ae 
RmmeETEOPOLStBIOT td eal a es ae cur od ce eas enarer Hanes cl nie 8 
ORME i, ghee ote (oe + ak | elope LIke lee. 


© CO STO or He iv) 














VII. Exercises and Ques- 


tions: 











264 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


EFFICIENCY REecorp—Continued 








General Rating............| 2 4 6 |. 8 10 








Very Score] T. 
































Qualities of Merit......... paee Poor | Med.| Good) Ex. 
VII. Exercises and Ques- 
tions—Cont. 
2: Concrete. 20 te atteeell Sd Eee ee 
3. Relation of sub- 
ject matter. 122s, <|0... } vee ieee Cee 
4. Comprehension? |@ 715: |5 7. (eee ae ee aie ee 
5. Progressive con- 
tirkulty seep tes ee a ee a eee 
VIII. Vocabulary and AI- MOS 
lusions: 
1. Ease of Expres- 
SIODS «c/s ae Dee Peewee |e vas salons, bab] ary © ted a erence eee rr 
2. Progressive con- 
tinvity.2 foc teks ale os 2] dea ee). veel ae 
3. Concrete,’ esi d ad tales) hc bee oe Se eee 
4. Adaptationi.:, ahs veal 0.4 | SOC a a 
5. Ranges. eae Pe as | ala ss at eae 
6.. Comprehension. } eo. vice. 03) fe a 
7. Objective er SLL SE eee 
IX. Appendix and Indices: hed 
1. Arrangement. 2.2) 5020. 4.),.:'s bdo S48 fs opel eee eee 
2. Content fob oc cksediss oa olete 2 bc] ol ete aay oe ee 
3: Concrete... hs oo. lind octane sc Lh ey Le 
4. Directions for 
USE OF occliaiahs cl draco: ve (.s!.c+so'tee/| 2 hacucl obs lh Stabe atively een aa 
5. Value. os eee i so) ee 
X. References and Bibli- he Be 
ography: 
1.) Practical... ele ee oP) ee 
2.) Value sists celta ce | so 3 oh ee 
3: Relation \.:..05 ¢.cAd nd 83 Clad ae ee 
4. Kinds of ma- 
terials (3.55) vag hite ei fa oo obo STR ae ee 
5. Progressive con- 
BINUIGY ee | PR tik ee of ott Se ete ae ee 
Grade on: Book as a Wholé..).)). 041. 0. «|... 2. Slay ee ee 





THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 265 


Tur CINCINNATI STANDARDS FOR JUDGING TEXTBOOKS #4 


1. A good text should include as to content: 

(a) Material the scholarly nature of which should be not 
only unquestioned and endorsed, but apparent 

(b) Significant, essential facts, the selection of which is 
endorsed by a recognized body of experts, including 
teachers in active service 

(c) Such selection and use of material to give such life and 
color as is organic, and does not tend to obscure 
details 

(ad) Such treatment of these facts as will leave a unified 
graphic impression of the whole, so ordered as to be 
available when needed 

(e) Such opening pages as connect with present social needs 
in as intimate a way as possible 

2. A good text should include such organization of essential and 
significant facts as meets the requirements of unity, definite- 
ness, and proportion. 

(a) Unity. This may be secured by grouping facts into 
units interrelated among themselves, and having defi- 
nite relation to the whole. Captions should indicate 
these relations. 

(b) Definiteness. This may be secured by a statement of 
the problem at the outset, an orderly, graphic synop- 
sis at the close of each unit, an emphasis on ‘mile- 
stones” of the subject, and a grasp of the relation 
to the whole scheme or phase of experience under 
consideration. 

(c) Proportion. This may be secured by paralleling the 
units in minimum time allotments (see page 64, New 
York State Course of Study) by pages of material. 
This should not be done to the extent of rigidity. 

(d) Such graphs, outlines, charts, etce., as to enable the 
pupils to see the relation of the task in hand to what 
has been accomplished and what remains to be accom- 
plished. 

3. Style. When containing discourse, a good text should be 


4From A. L. Hall-Quest, The Textbook, pp. 82-87. Reprinted by 
permission of the Macmillan Co., publishers. 


266 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


written in a style that is clear, graphic, colorful, 
dramatic (when possible), virile, dynamic (when 
suitable), intimate, attractive, and wholesomely tech- 
nical when economy and necessity demand. 

4. Appeal to children. A good text should possess salient quali- 
ties that appeal to children, e.g.: 

(a) Attractive exterior 

(b) Inviting page arrangement 

(c) Illustrative material (based on action when possible) 

(d) “Picturesque” titles of chapters and paragraphs 

(e) Conereteness, picturesqueness, and intimacy of style 
(rich in incident, intimate in the telling) 

(f) Preference for short sentences 

(g) Abundant direct quotations (where possible) 

(h) Novelty and resourcefulness in presentation 

(7) Cleverly planned tasks 

(7) A warp of children’s everyday experiences 

(k) Opportunity for mastery of definite “units,” thereby 
contributing to the glow of achievement 

(1) Competitive schemes for review 

(m) Visual presentation of abstractions, graphs, ete. 

5. Illustrations. A good text should include illustrations that 
tend in size, character, and distribution to indicate the rela- 
tive importance or significance of the content, e.g.: 

(a) In history the illustrations should focus attention on 
men and events of most far-reaching influence. 

(6b) A good text should include illustrations that appeal to 
the interests of children for whom the text is in- 
tended. 

(c) A good text should include illustrations that in design, 
color, and composition, satisfy the recognized canons 
of art. 

6. Provision for teaching. 

The teacher’s edition should contain: 

(a) An introduction giving a brief summary of the best 
pedagogical knowledge of the subject treated; a re- 
view of the experimental studies by which these 
conclusions have been reached 

(b) An evaluated scale to measure ability 

(c) A list of a few books immediately bearing upon the 
subject in hand 

The student’s edition should contain: 


THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 267 


(a) An introduction cleverly planned, intimate in style, to 
produce a favorable first impression 

(b) Points to be noted at the beginning of each chapter or 
other unit of work 

(c) Corresponding enumeration of vital points at the close 
of the unit 

(ad) Graphic devices to place the matter in hand in relation 
to what has preceded and what is to follow 

(e) Other interesting and cumulative reviews in the form of 
competitive contests 

(f) Exercises to stimulate intellectual interest and reason- 
ing at the close of each unit 

(g) Practical applications at frequent intervals 

(h) Interesting captions to tasks, e.g., things to remember, 
things to do, things to read, things to think about, 
ete. 

(c) Stimuli for the imaginative use of the information or 
skill under acquisition, such as debates, letters of 
composition, dramatization 

(j) Interpretative illustrative material with provisions for 
studying the same 

(k) A comprehensive index 

(1) Pronouncing index, or (better) parenthetical pronunci- 
ation of unusual proper names 

7. Mechanical make-up. A good textbook should include a me- 
chanical make-up based upon accepted standards of hygiene, 
art, design, adaptability to purpose, and upon sound prin- 
ciples of economic production, provided that the last-named 
should never be interpreted to mean that an inferior text- 
book be selected. 

Hygiene of reading. Standards of typography have been 
evolved from such studies as those of Dearborn, Huey, and 
others. The following is a preliminary arrangement of 
these standards compiled from the above-named sources: 

Standards in page typography. Length, 25mm. Maximum, 
90 mm. 

Advantages of these standards: 

No lateral movement required 

Total motion one fourth as much as with longer lines 

More words per fixation 

Favors keeping what has been read 

Eases eyestrain 


268 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Young children need shorter lines than adults. 

Height, 1.5 mm.—minimum. 

Thickness of vertical stroke, 0.25 mm., or at most 0.3 mm. 

Space within letter between vertical strokes as important, more 
so than space between letters, 0.3 to 0.56 mm., within, 0.5 to 
0.75 between. 

Color. Black and white is better than any combination for 
the maximum amount of legibility per unit of space. 

Provision for the distinctness of the upper half of the letters 
hard to distinguish, e.g., c and e, t, i, 1, k, h, z, 0, s. 

Space between words, 2 mm. 

Space between lines, 2.5 mm., of no advantage if the type is 
undersize. 

Standards for younger children. 

First year, type 2.6 mm.—leading 4.5 mm. 
Second year, type 2 mm.—leading 4 mm. 
Third year, type 2 mm.—leading 4 mm. 
Fourth year, type 1.8 mm.—leading 3.6 mm. 

8. General suggestions. Changes in type, italicization, spacing— 
all add to getting at the gist of the matter, in that they 
utilize the indirect retinal field. 

There is a distinct advantage in picture printing and the 
growing utilization of the graphic method. 

Range of words read per second—2.5 to 9.8. 

Everything that increases legibility by increasing the differ- 
ence between letters within the prescribed limits not only 
relieves eyestrain, but frees energy for the work of intelli- 
gence. 


Free textbooks. One problem in connection with text- 
books which has caused much discussion is the problem of 
free textbooks. In a study of the practices in small 
cities, made in 1915 by the United States Bureau of Edu- 
cation, it was found that 593 cities of 1,257 reporting fur- 
nished free textbooks, 366 being in states requiring free 
textbooks, and 227 in states leaving the matter optional. In 
744 of the 1,257 cities reporting, stationery and pencils were 
also furnished free. Hall-Quest has summarized the advan- 
tages and disadvantages of the free textbook as follows: ® 


5 Ibid., pp. 51-4. Reprinted by permission of the Macmillan Co., 
publishers. 


THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 269 


The following arguments in favor of free textbooks have been 
presented from time to time: 

1. The cost is placed on the district rather than on the indi- 
vidual, there is a lower per capita cost. 

2. Eeonomy is made possible through large orders. (The Rus- 
sell Sage Foundation Bulletin 124 says about 20 per cent is 
saved in this way.) 

3. Books may be changed with little inconvenience whenever 
different texts are found necessary. 

4. Uniformity of textbooks in each school administrative dis- 
trict is secured. This would reduce much of the confusion in 
the transfer of pupils from school to school. Many superin- 
tendents find this to be true. 

5. Poor children may attend school equipped in this respect 
as well as the more well-to-do children. 

6. A larger enrollment is possible because the cost to the 
parent is less. (The Massachusetts law on free texts resulted in 
a 10 per cent increase in high-school enrollment.) 

7. Everybody has a book, and the school work ean start 
promptly the first day. 

8. Additional or supplementary texts may be provided for the 
enrichment of the teacher’s point of view, scope of illustrations 
and applications. Such additional texts are available also for 
the wider study of a subject by the pupils. 


The arguments against free textbooks are: 


1. Parents and pupils grow to feel that they are wholly de- 
pendent on the state, whereas they should assume some of the 
responsibilities of education. 

2. Increased school taxes would be necessary if free texts were 
provided. 

3. Children should not be required to use books soiled by 
others. 

4. Free textbooks are likely to be carriers of disease. 

5. If the parent purchases textbooks, home libraries may be 
built up, and the pupil will have a permanent collection of ref- 
erence books. 

6. Free textbooks are not cared for as well as those owned by 
the pupils. 

7. Free texts foster a lack of self-respect, because there is no 
sense of possession. 


270 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


8. The free textbook cannot be marked and reorganized for 
study purposes as conveniently as one owned by the pupil. 

9. As it is difficult to recover books from pupils who drop out 
of school and move away, the cost of equipment and the loss from 
waste is increased. 


The real question involved is: Which system promises 
the most readily available supply of the best textbooks? 
Theoretically, the free text system seems to be the best. 
There is, however, in some cities a serious practical diffi- 
culty. School boards and superintendents are reluctant to 
order new books until the old ones have been thoroughly 
worn out. It is also difficult to obtain newly published 
books which may be decidedly better than those already in 
use. If geographies are out-of-date but in good condition, 
if histories are incorrect and incomplete but in good condi- 
tion, it is often very difficult to secure new adoptions. On 
the other hand, there are many cities which supply free 
texts and at the same time allow reasonable variation in 
basic books. These cities also adopt a liberal policy as to 
purchasing newer supplies and adding new publications. 
Granted this necessary element of flexibility, the free text 
system seems to be quite superior to the other. 

Standards for purchase and distribution of textbooks. 
The selection of textbooks which has been described at 
length has come to be regarded very generally as an instruec- 
tional activity, lodged with the superintendent, the special 
supervisors, or with committees of teachers and principals. 
Along with this power to select should also go the power to 
determine standards of distribution. The setting of such 
standards is but another phase of selection. If the power to 
set standards does not accompany the power to select, the 
purchasing agencies may become in fact the selecting 
agency. The actual setting of standards is the work of 
teachers, principals, and supervisors codperating under the 
direction of the superintendent. Illustrations and details 


THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 271 


will be given in the discussion of textbook accounting imme- 
diately following. 

A textbook accounting procedure. Since many school 
systems, large and small, purchase textbooks and reference 
materials for free distribution, some system of textbook 
accounting is necessary. Such a plan should include: 


1. A procedure for making budgets 
2. A routine of requests for purchase 
3. Standards and a plan of distribution 
4. Standards of classroom equipment 


The purchase and distribution of textbook materials 
need not be left to some vague scheme of general estimates. 
This problem of purchasing and distributing textbooks is a 
question of business and ean be reduced to a definite system 
of accounting. Barr has outlined such a scheme which is 
reported here as it originally appeared in the Hlementary 
School Journal.’ 

The textbook budget. <A ‘‘request for purchase’”’ or a 
budget (which is really a request for purchase at some 
future date) should be accompanied by some form of justi- 
fication. Finance committees and boards of education 
rightfully insist on economy and the restriction of expendi- 
tures. Not infrequently school men have misunderstood 
this demand for objective data and have been greatly cha- 
erined at reductions in budgets and refusals to purchase. If 
the ordering and purchase of textbooks are organized on a 
definite business basis, requests will in the main take care 
of themselves. At any rate the responsibility is definitely 
placed. 

A blank form (Form I) calling for the following infor- 
mation might be used. 


6 A. S. Barr, ‘‘ Textbook Accounting,’’ Elementary School Journal, 
Vol. 23, Oct., 1922, pp. 127-35. 


272 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


ied by (: URES OS WPM LN DPV OE 


“Number instock Jaly Tse... cs eeistces ce ein ee 
“Number purchased since July Lise 2 a seas eee . 
. Gross supply available (add Nos. 2, 3, and 4) ........... 
Life of: book (years) .\cGee os Sens eae 
~ Pereentage ‘of! replacements © 6s i°s.::s steers sats crelagatetete eran 
: Probable, numberof -replacements, *..\.\...°5 - « «is sbeisyge eee 
- Net supply available: (minus No! .8) 5 3. a... «uterine 
10 Disttibutignas..c cieemne PT Pgs orm ase toca alle cellos Pols ce eae ee 
LL: Grade erie va clatelerstere iets: «lela caty o.0le gis ctcte ete antes at anne 
12. Total needs. ose ens wee etaieradate NS De Rees iotne foe oho ie eee 
13." Number to be ‘ordered ae, ><. <4... « sig cieyn ssthes ah 


COHDNOTARWONH 


As the discussion goes forward, it is hoped that the de- 
tails of the plan will not become bewildering. As a matter 
of fact, the various steps outlined are necessarily widely 
distributed, some to teachers, some to principals, some to 
the supply room, and some to the purchasing department. 
The responsibilities are also spread by grades, by subjects, 
and by buildings. In point of time the plan details the 
operations for an entire school year. What may seem com- 
plex in a general discussion of this type becomes simple 
enough in practice. 

The textbook inventory. Item 2 of Form I indicates the 
number of books in use in the schools. This information 
should be obtainable from the school inventories. In gen- 
eral, the school inventory should show two sets of facts: 
(1) the distribution of books by schools—and (2) the dis- 
tribution of books by titles. If there are a number of 
schools, there should be a separate inventory book for each 
school. These books can then be filed and referred to con- 
veniently. 

A workable list of items for recording information con- 
cerning the number of books in use in the schools follows 
(Form IT): 


THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 273 


Form II 


1. Title (enter titles alphabetically by subjects) ............ 
2. Number on hand, 1920 (the number in the schools) ....... 
3. Number received since July, 1920 (this is the number re- 
alm OACOTSCHOOUS it's Waereltaiire ® oi vc tals 6 os eae fee 
4. Number returned to Supply Department (this is the 
number of books returned by each school to supply 
SEMI MaME Tey dy TiePare at wre head via lete cha eiateletyins ei oca elevate ale n A's 

5. Number destroyed through contagious disease ........... 
fe eee eer se UNG BN AIG Wee 5 a cise aha a Oe aie pee cide eke ate Vo 
7. Total on hand at date (books not usable should be re- 
eT wiumearpeLore inventory is taken) 2.002... «sks es5 es « 
8. Unit total (to be filled in at business manager’s office)..... 
Veaeteues nuicato by ihalf ‘orades).>.% ine Caiseh ee ee. b acts 
10. Standard quota (this is the standard distribution) ....... 
11. Shortage (this is the schools’ estimate of the additional 
number needed for the next school year) ............. 

12. Average (these books may be used in other schools) ...... 


In addition to the information about the number of books 
in each school there should be a further summary showing 
the total number of copies of each book in all of the schools. 
With many titles and with many schools this becomes a 
complicated task. The following form may prove usable. 

The inventory recommended is an adaptation of the 
classifier already familiar to statistical workers. The ini- 
tial or key card should carry an alphabetical list of all of 
the schools. Each school has a number by which it is known. 
The card is read as follows: School No. 29 has 37 copies of 
Bunnies in Toy Land, School No. 58 has 123 copies, ete. ; 
the total number of copies in the schools is 500. A 4X6 
card file by titles would show instantly the total number of 
copies of a given title in use throughout the scnools at any 
given time. 

The most favorable time, everything considered, for tak- 
ing an inventory is near the close of the school year. 
Worn-out copies should be returned before inventory is. 


274 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Tirte: ‘Bunnies in Toy Lanp,” Tota: 500 


te ered 


On Dl 2h Oude ico [20 ie fo aeee 











——__ | ———..§ |_ ——_ | |__| | $s | ————— | —————_ |_| 





— /———— |] |_q~— \——~— |—q~—|qq{~— | qq | —q_ |—\|— 


taken, for the inventory should show the number of usable 
books. Besides the books already in the schools, as shown 
in the inventory, there are books in the central supply 
room. Item 3 of Form I indicates the number of such books 
in stock. Items 2, 3, and 4 taken together make up the 
supply of books available for the ensuing year. The pur- 
chases referred to in Item 4 are made on the basis of the 
needs as indicated in Items 11 and 12 of Form II. With 
next year’s supply of books ascertained, budget-making for 
the year following may proceed. Actual budget-making 
can be started early in the autumn and must usually be 
completed before December or January. 

Textbook depreciation. What is the life of a book? This 
should be the subject of systematic research. A very small 


THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 275 


error, however, at this point leads to strange figures in the 
end, for the life of a book varies with its physical make-up, 
with the purpose for which it is used, with the type of 
school, and with the type of child. A book with a good 
binding, everything else being equal, will outlast one with 
a poor binding; a reference book used monthly should last 
longer than a textbook used daily ; a book used in the upper 
erades usually lasts somewhat longer than one used in the 
lower grades; a book used in a platoon school may not last 
as long as one used in a regular school; and one used in 
certain districts may not last as long as one used in other 
districts. With these facts in mind, the approximate life 
of the book may be ascertained. As a matter of fact, Form 
I, when.used over a period of years, provides a check on 
itself; that is, for each yearly calculation of the percentage 
of depreciation, there is the corresponding June inventory 
showing the actual depreciation. The percentage of depre- 
ciation is systematically checked and eventually somewhat 
established. 

Standards of textbook distribution. The outline up to 
this point has dealt with the supply of books in the schools. 
The discussion must now turn to the procedure by which the 
needs of the school are ascertained. It is with this part of 
the procedure that special. supervisors are especially con- 
cerned. One of the first points in a systematic study of 
school needs is some scheme of textbook distribution. Such 
a distribution should indicate, title by title, the number of 
copies per pupil that will be suppled: 1 copy per pupil, 1 
per two pupils, 1 per ten pupils, ete.; that is, when a book 
is recommended for purchase it should be accompanied by 
a statement showing the number of books to which each 
school is entitled. 

The distribution shown in Table I should be accompanied 
by a statement of the grade or grades in which the book 
is to be used. Book A is to be used in the eighth grade, one 


276 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 





TABLE [ 

Book Distribution | Grade 
LAE DR POR ee nag 155 Ba TBS Thats 1 copy per pupil VIiTl 
ne ee CoO ay eae ae 1 copy per room IV-VI 
Cee ate Sar Wee ae Ree eae Tae 1 copy per 10 pupils VI 
Dyker Mh cl es BD Se i ae 1 copy per pupil II-fil 
1 re BA al FRE Se ee aN Zan bea 1 copy per building vV-VI 
TO a eon ead sete eo © ee ee 1 copy per 2 pupils Vil 


copy per pupil; Book B is to be used in the fourth, fifth, 
and sixth grades, one copy per room, and so on through the 
list. With a statistical statement of the total school enroll- 
ment by half grades, with a statement of the number of 
classes for each half grade for the school system, and with 
the total number of school buildings known, the exact num- 
ber of books needed for the ensuing year may be deter- 
mined. The total school enrollment is used in determining 
the number of books needed when the distribution is one 
per pupil; the total number of classes is used when the 
distribution is one per room or class; and the total number 
of schools is used when the distribution is on the building 
basis—one per building, five per building, ete. 

Allowance for increased enrollment should not be over- 
looked. Item 10, Form I, should show this distribution ; 
Item 11, the grade or grades in which the book is to be used ; 
and Item 12, the total needs for the ensuing year. The 
total of Item 9 (net available supply) subtracted from the 
total of Item 12 (total needs) should result in the number 
of books to be entered in the regular textbook budget 
(Item 13). 

The distribution (standard quota) here explained is the 
same as that referred to in Item 10, Form II, and issued as 
the basis for the actual distribution of materials to the 
schools. Each school is entitled to a certain definite number 


THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 277 


of books, and this number is set forth in the standard quota 
or distribution. 

If all books were basic texts and if all texts were used 
uniformly throughout the system, textbook accounting 
would be relatively simple. But, unfortunately from the 
point of view of accounting, there may be two texts in a 
given grade and subject, each used in different schools. 
There may be supplementary books distributed according 
to some scheme of varying numbers of copies per room and 
school. The request for any one of the numerous supple- 
mentary books in a given subject and grade involves the 
study of the number of other supplementary books already 
in the school. There is also the question of which books 
should be regarded as basic, which should be classified as 
supplementary, and which should be regarded as reference 
material. In order .that adequate control may be estab- 
lished over these varying factors, there should be (1) stand- 
ards of relationships between the library and classrooms, 
and (2) minimum standards of classroom equipment. 

Types of textbook materials. The general scheme of rela- 
tionship between classroom and library may be brought out 
by the following classification of reading material. Text- 
books and reference materials are of five general types: 


A. Material used so repeatedly that copies must be provided 
for each child. 

B. Material used so repeatedly that copies must be kept in the 
classroom, but not frequently enough to warrant purchase for 
each child. 

C. Material used frequently enough to warrant a few copies 
being kept in the school library, but not frequently enough to be 
kept in the classroom, except for short periods. 

D. General reference material for teachers, specific enough in 
nature to warrant its being supplied to school libraries. 

EK. Material used so infrequently by either teachers or chil- 
dren that they should go to the public library to consult it. 


We are now concerned solely with Types A and B. 


278 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Minimum standards of classroom equipment. Obviously 
standards of distribution assume some kind of a standard 
classroom equipment. There must be prepared a standard 
of classroom equipment. The statement of standards should 
indicate the exact equipment for each subject, grade, and 
type of material; that is, the administration should know 
the equipment subject by subject and grade by grade for 
each school in the system. A 3 & 5 ecard index showing the 
standard textbook equipment per subject, grade, and type 
of school should organize this information in usable form. 


ARITHMETIC, V A 








Type Function Distribution 
Pa Basic text 1 copy per pupil 
1IB3@ Supplementary texts | 3 titles, 1 copy of each 

‘ per room 
RES Tote cts Mie eee ore Teacher’s manual 1 copy per room 
PB Le USE Course of study 1 copy per room 
Reapine, VI B 

Type Function Distribution 
A.. Literary reader 1 copy per pupil 
Ie PR BAAS NN Aehiicee Technical reader 1 copy per pupil 
tS: Supplementary read- | 25 titles, 1 copy per 

ing room 
PDE Course of study 1 copy per room 
History, VII B 

Type Function Distribution 
pee Basic text 1 copy per pupil 
1By. Reference material 10 titles, 1 copy per room 
iM see Pictures 25 titles, 1 copy per room 
TRS, Magazine 2 titles, 1 copy per room 
1B? Course of study 1 copy per room 


THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 279 


The information concerning arithmetic, reading, and his- 
tory on three cards taken from the index at random shows 
the plan of organization. For each grade, subject, and type 
of school there should be a separate card. Such an index 
makes it possible to ascertain instantly the exact textbook 
equipment of any room. ‘‘A’’ is used to indicate basic 
texts; ‘‘B’’ denotes supplementary or reference materials. 
The numerals placed before the letters indicate the number 
of copies of each title to be found in a given grade or room: 
1B, for example, means 1 copy per room. In actual opera- 
tion the scheme is extremely simple and direct. 

A standard equipment such as that here discussed is not 
necessarily a uniform equipment. Instructional conditions 
vary from school to school. Books adapted to use in one 
section of the city are not always usable in another. It is 
therefore not desirable that a single supplementary reader 
be used throughout a large school system regardless of these 
varying conditions. 

The card for arithmetic provides three titles, one copy of 
each per room, of supplementary material. The textbook 
standards show not three reference books but six reference 
books. From this list of six books three may be selected; 
that is, the standardization is one of quantity rather than 
quality. 

Again, the number of books required for good instruc- 
tional work varies for the different types of schools. A 
platoon organization, for example, may require one half the 
number of books required by the traditional school. The 
standards as constructed recognize three types of schools: 
the regular, the regular-departmentalized, and the platoon. 
A different and special standard of equipment is set up 
for each major type of organization. 

In this rather extended discussion of standards, one 
should not lose the connection between standards of class- 
room equipment and budget-making. To make a budget, 


280 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


one must know the number of books already in use in the 
schools and the needs of the schools. To know the needs of 
the schools, one must have recognized standards of equip- 
ment. The distribution per title, referred to in the earlier 
part of the discussion, is meaningless except as checked 
against accepted standards of equipment. Without stand- 
ards of equipment, books and distributions may be added 
endlessly. There must be a stopping point. Standards of 
equipment furnish upper and lower limits. 

The available supply of textbooks. With hundreds of 
classes and with thousands of books, how is one to know 
when rooms are equipped up to standard? There must be 
at hand three things: (1) the standards of distribution; 
(2) the inventories; and (38) the class report for each school 
showing the enrollment by classes. The titles in the inven- 
tory are organized by subjects. The grade in which the 
book is to be used is indicated. Suppose that one desires to 
check the supply of books in arithmetic in the third grade 
in School X. First check the inventory on the basic texts. 
For the third grade one finds forty copies of Book A and 
eighty copies of Book B. The standard distribution is one 
per pupil, but the class report shows that there are eighty 
pupils. There is obviously an oversupply of forty books. 
The supplementary material can be checked in a similar 
manner. 

Purchase and distribution of instructional supplies. 
The procedure recommended for the handling of supplies is 
similar to that already outlined for textbooks. The task of 
the instructional expert is twofold: (1) writing specifica- 
tions or standard lists, and (2) developing standards of 
distribution. Standards of distribution must take into ac- 
count the amount of money available as well as the the- 
oretically desirable supplies. We may first illustrate stand- 
ard lists of supplies for various departments. 


THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 281 


Tue Derroir STANDARD EQUIPMENT FOR AUTO MECHANICS 


Pe ee pe 


Lo 


6 
Parts 


SHop? 


1. FURNITURE AND EQUIPMENT 


Bench, standard wall, —— ft. (B. of E. Dept. Ind. & 
Manual Arts, Drawing D-5137); see specifications 
Bench, standard wall, —— ft. (B. of E. Dept. Ind. & 
Manual Arts, Drawing D-5137); see specifications 
Lockers (B. of E. Dept. Ind. & Manual Arts, Drawing 

D-5107) built in 


. Teachers’ chairs, standard equipment 


Teachers’ desk, standard equipment 

Tool crib (M. H. & P., Drawing 1196-1, Mk. B-1) built 
in 

Multiple blackboard, D-5110, built in 

Wiring stands, to be made from lumber furnished as 
follows, at school; 

4 Pes. No. 1 Yellow Pine 8 in. X 10 ft., 0 in., D2S 

8 Pes. No. 1 Yellow Pine 6 in. X 10 ft., 0 in., D2S 

2 Pes. No. 1 Yellow Pine 3 in. X 3 in. X 10 ft., 0 in., D4S 

Wash trough for seven or eight persons, built in 


2. CopED EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES 


First aid supplies (standard equipment) 

Adhesive plaster—code 3-08-116 

4 oz. bottle iodine—code 3-08-122 

2 oz. bottle ammonia (aromatic spirits)—code 3-08-117 

2 in. bandage—code 3-08-119 

14 lb. pkg. absorbent cotton—code 3-08-115 

4 oz. bottle Carron oil in high schools and dom. science 
rooms—code 3-08-121 

Waste basket—code 3-05-225 

Waste cans 


3. EQUIPMENT AND TOOLS 


For Class of 35 
Ford power plants, complete with starter, 1920 model 





7¥. R. Kepler, unpublished materials, Detroit Board of Education. 








282 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 

6 Axle assemblies, live, Ford 

1 Carburetor, Rayfield 

1 Carburetor, Schebler model, aux. air type 

1 Carburetor, Stewart (metering pin type) cut away, 1 in. 

1 Carburetor, Marvel, 1 in. 

1 Carburetor, Zenith 

1 Vacuum tank, Stewart complete 

1 Vacuum tank, chart 

Electrical 
100 ft. cable, Packard secondary 

6 Extension cords, 25 ft. long, with plug, socket and guard 

2 Hydrometer syringes, battery, Beckley-Ralston 879 

1 Pocket compass, 14% in. dia. brass case and cover No. 3 
Buhl 

6 Wood dash connectors, two contact for lamp bulbs, flush, 
Edison, similar to Beckley-Ralston Co. No. 4-15011, 
page 83 

2 Storage batteries, 6-volt, 3 cell 100 ampere hr. 

6 Switches, two-pole, knife, with base, 30 amp. 

1 1 Voltmeter, double scale 0-15, and 0-100, similar to 
Weston Portable Model, 45 

100 ft. wire, stranded flexible wire No. 14, R. C. 

1 Standard electrical grinder, 6 F A 14H. P. 3400 R. P. M. 
8 in. wheels A. C. phase cycles, Boyer 
Campbell Co., No. 20, page 724 

1 Auto jack, Beckley-Ralston No. 7101, stock 

4 Capt chisels, 14 in. Boyer-Campbell, page 470, Fig. 1047 

4 Cold chisels, straight, 94 in. Campbell, Fig. 1046 

1 Chain Hoist, 44 ton capacity, differential, Yale, page 
369, Boyer-Campbell 

1 Drill gauge, Starrett No. 187 

2 Set drills, each 14 in. to 1 in. by 1/16ths, 1% in. straight 
shank 

1 Set drill, each No. 1-No. 60 

1 Drill holder for wire drills No. 1-No. 60, Boyer-Camp- 
bell, page, 123, Fig. 275-8B 

2 Drills, hand drill 1/16 in. to % in., Yankee No. 1445 

1 Electric drill, 110 volts, 60 cycle, capacity Y in. Uni- 
versal or equal 

12 Files, mill 10 in. 
1 Gear pulley, No. 2, three-arm type Crane Wheel Pullers 


o 63) ke ke 


OHH 


PronNnarH 


PHOHEH MDH eH 


THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 283 


—combination set (Crane Puller Company, Arlington, 
Mass. ) 

Arbor press, base attachment No. 2 

Grease gun, puritan or equal 

Hammers, machinist’s ball pien, 12 oz. 

Hammers, handles, Boyer-Campbell, page 462, Fig. 
1383B, Strelinger No. 28 

Lead hammer mold, Fig. 1030, page 465, Boyer-Camp- 
bell, 4 in., 104 

Motor valve set, complete, Skinner’s, Watkins and Rad- 
cliff 

Oil can, Delphos, 5 gal. 

Oil can, Delphos, 30 gal. 

Pair pliers, slip joint combination, 8 in. black finish, 
Boyer-Campbell, page 343, Fig. 689 

Set reamers, 11/16 in. to 1 in. inclusive 

Screw drivers, 4 in. 

Serew drivers, 10 in. 

Serew drivers, 6 in. 

Serew plate, general purpose set No. 322, Boyer-Camp- 
bell, page 37 

Screw pitch gauge, S. A. E. threaded 

Serew pitch gauge, U. 8S. Std. 

Thickness gauges, No. 642 pg. 667—Boyer-Campbell 

Tire pump, single acting 

Valve lifter, chain type, perfect handle 

Vises, 4 in. jaws, Reed’s No. 194 or equal 

Wheel puller, Ford 

Sets wrenches, drop-forged, A. L. A. M. 9. Each set to 
contain 7 wrenches as follows: 21, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 
Billings & Spencer 

Wrenches, drop forges, A. L. A. M. No. 25 

Wrenches, drop forges, A. L. A. M. No. 27 

Wrenches, drop forges, A. L. A. M. No. 29 

Sets Ford special wrenches, each set to contain 11 
wrenches as follows: ET1620, ET5810, ET1881, 
ET5600, ET2418, ET6064, ET6018, ET2718, NT8, 
NT3, ET4564 

Wrench, monkey, 18 in., knife handle, Coe’s, page 356, 
Boyer-Campbell, Fig. 732 

Wrench, monkey, 6 in., page 990, Boyer-Campbell, Fig. 
320 


284 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


2 10 in. Hack saw frame, Fig. 23367A, page 550, Strelinger 
No. 28 

2 pr. goggles, page 728, Strelinger No. 28, Fig. 281 (with 
mica lenses) 

1 Electrical soldering iron, Fig. 1456B, page 729, Strelinger 
No. 28, No. 3158, 200 Watt 5 tip, American Beauty 

1 pr. No. 9 snips, page 1018, Strelinger No. 28 

1 Set No. 7 curved bearing scrapers, page 497, Strelinger 
No. 28 

1 Schrader tire gauge 

2 Set battery clips (snapons) 


The foregoing specifications are notable because they are 
worked out in quantitative detail. The necessity for such 
statements for all phases of school supply is obvious. The 
resultant saving of time and money more than pays for the 
labor of originating such lists and keeping them up to date. 
What is more important, the efficiency of instruction will be 
materially advanced. Search of the educational literature 
shows that few samples have found their way into print. 
Doubtless school systems here and there have developed 
and are using similar lists, and their publication would 
materially aid workers in other systems. Although not 
worked out in the detail of the foregoing illustration, the 
following sample specifications are given because they are 
representative of current thought, because they will be sug- 
gestive to many readers, and because they can be standard- 
ized very easily. 

Kindergarten-primary materials for experimentation, 
construction, and. expression. Parker and Temple present 
the following list of materials which they feel represent the 
best for purposes of stimulating the child to experiment, to 
construct, and to express his ideas in objective form. The 
list as given is the result of twenty-five years of study and 
experimentation : § 


8S. C. Parker, and Alice Temple, Unified Kindergarten and First 
Grade Teaching (Ginn & Co., 1925), pp. 90-92. 


THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 285 


A. Materials for Woodworking: 


Carpenter’s bench and tools? 

Hammers (best type is small claw hammer with a flat head 
—not too light) 

Saws (crosscut, No. 8) 

Nail puller 

Wood file 

Brace and bits of several sizes 

Vise 

Ruler 

Nails (wire with flat heads and of several sizes) 

Glue 

Sandpaper 

Soft wood: bass, poplar, or white pine; strips of different 
widths and thicknesses and odd pieces from the manual 
training shop, including cireular pieces for wheels 

Fruit crates, cigar boxes, chalk boxes, ete. 


B. Materials and Tools for Paper Construction: 


Construction paper 

Manila paper 

Bogus paper 

Oak tag 

Unprinted newspaper 

Crépe paper 

Tissue paper 

Gilt and silver paper 

Wrapping paper 

Corrugated paper—saved from packages 
Paper plates 

Paper napkins 

Paper bags—collected and brought by children 
Paper dolls to be dressed 

Ribbon bolts—suppled free by some drygoods stores 





9The Bureau of Educational Experiments, New York City, rec- 
ommends the Sheldon bench. If it is not possible to secure a bench, 
an ordinary table may be used to which two or three vises are at- 
tached. For kindergarten children such an arrangement, with ham- 
mers, saws, nails, and nail-puller, glue, sandpaper, and the necessary 
wood, constitutes satisfactory equipment. 


286 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Pasteboard boxes—collected by children and teacher 
Milk bottle tops 

Meat skewers 

Spools 

Slats—white and colored 
Adhesive tape 

Collar buttons 

Paste and brushes 

Pins 

Paper fasteners 

Thumb tacks 

String 

Scissors 

Conductor’s punch 
Paper-cutter 


C. Sewing and Weaving Materials: 
Cloth (substantial, but easily handled, and of different 
colors and designs) 
Thread 
Coarse needles 
Pins 
Scissors 
Thimbles 
Small dolls to dress 
Cotton roving 
Jute 
Strips of cloth for rag rugs 
Strawboard looms made by the children 


D. Modeling Materials: 
Clay 
Plasticene 
Sand table and sand toys 
Water colors and brushes 
Shellae 
Oilcloth or clay boards 1° 
Aprons 


10 If these are lacking, old newspapers may be used to keep the 
table or floor clean. 


THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 287 


EK. Materials for Drawing and Pamting: 


Crayons 

Water colors 

Fresco paints 

Enamel 

Drawing paper 

Manila paper 

Unprinted newspaper 

Chalk 

Easels and drawing boards 14 
Paintbrushes of several sizes 


The same authors present a description ?* of a primary 
room evidently written by a student observer, which is of 
interest. It will not be quoted here but should be read by 
primary teachers and supervisors. 

Classroom equipment: the Los Angeles self-survey lst. 
The following list is taken from a mimeographed bulletin 
entitled ‘‘Los Angeles Self Survey.’’ 


My classrooms should contain the following equipment: for 
classes from first through sixth grade: 


American flag (silk) Cupboard (supply) 

Bell (desk) Desks (adjustable for pupils) 

Book case Desk (teacher’s) 

Book ends Dictionary 

Brackets Drawing Tables 

Browsing table Dustpan 
Dustbrush 

Calendar (desk) 

Chairs (visitors’) Inkwell 

Chair (teacher’s) 

Clock Locker (teacher’s) 


11 Children do much more expressive work in painting if given a 
large surface, large brushes, and an easel. If easels are not avail- 
able, paper may be fastened to the wail or blackboard so that the 
pupils may work while standing. 

128. C. Parker and Alice Temple, Unified Kindergarten and First 
Grade Teaching (Ginn & Co., 1925), pp. 84-85. 


288 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Maps 
Mirror 


Pencil sharpener 
Pictures 
Punch 


Rubber stamp and pad 
Sand table 


Scissors 
(grades 1-3, 40 to each room) 
(grades 4-8, 20 to each room) 


Shades for windows 
Standard for flag 


Table for supplementary books 
Thermometer 
Transom pole 


Waste basket 
Whisk broom 
Window pole 
Yardstick 


Equpping the principal’s office: the Los Angeles list. 
From the same source as the preceding illustration, the fol- 
lowing list of desired equipment for a principal’s office is 


taken: 


My office should contain the following equipment: 


Annunciator 
Adding machine 
American flag 


Book case 
Book ends 
Bulletin Board 


Card tray 

Chairs (prin. and common) 
Clock 

Couch 

Curtains 


Desk (principal’s) 
Desk (clerk’s) 

Desk baskets 

Desk pads and blotters 
Dictionary 

District map (framed) 


Hlectric lights (desk lights for 
principal and clerk) 


Filing cabinets 


Gong (hand type for emer- 
gency use) 


Inkwell 


Key rack and mail box (com- 
bined) 
(Cabinet style as at Rowan) 


Medicine case 
Mimeograph (or Neostyle) 
Mirror 


Office sign 
Pad and pillow 


THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 289 


Paper cutters (one for each Stick file 
floor in each building) 


Pencil sharpener Table (library) 
Pictures Telephone stand and extension 
Pyrene fire extinguisher ArTO. 

Thermometer 
Relay fire alarm system Transom pole 
Rocker Typewriter (16 in. carrier) 
Rugs 


Waste basket 
Sereen (burlap) Work organizer 


The illustrations just given vary from the extremes of 
detailed quantitative listing to rough general cataloging. 
Obviously the lists of equipment for rooms, offices, and 
laboratories must be worked out in terms of size of school, 
size of class, type of work desired, ete. There is much room 
for progress in this matter of standardizing supply lists 
and inventories. 

Standards of distribution for supplies. Good illustra- 
tions of such standards have been difficult to secure. The 
quotations below are taken from a distribution sheet in use 
in the Detroit public schools.?* 


DISTRIBUTION SHEETS 


Administrative Supplies for Elementary Schools 
Second Semester 1925-1926 and First Semester 1926-1927 


(Keep these sheets in school for future reference) 


Please follow the directions given below when requisitioning 
supplies. 

1. Supply requisitions and inventory sheets should be sent to 
the Department of Educational Expenditures by Tuesday, De- 
cember 1, 1925. 

2. Include only the items on the attached sheets. 


13 Supplied by John F. Thomas, assistant superintendent in charge 
of educational equipment and expenditures, Detroit Public Schools. 


290 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


3. Standard List “A.” 

Arrange the items on the requisition in the exact order 
in which they appear on the list. Requisition not to exceed 
the quantity necessary to bring the amount of each article 
available for the second semester to the distribution given. 
Do not requisition any article if your school does not need it. 

4, Standard List “B.” 

Arrange the items on one requisition in the exact order 
they appear on the list. Check in column 3, N or R., de- 
pending on whether the item requested is new equipment 
for your school or replacement of present equipment. The 
distribution stated after each item is the maximum quantity 
to be allowed your school when quantity requested is re- 
ceived. 

5. Unless changed conditions develop, additional requisitions 
for any of these articles should not be made during the second 
semester of this year and the first semester of next year. 

6. You are supposed to have sufficient forms on hand for the 
second semester. If, however, more are needed please requisition 
them at this time. 


AN ExtTRACT FROM A LONGER LIST 


Article Unit Code Distribution Per Year 





Books, requisition for 
supplies and _ books 


(new form).......... Each | 3-03-021 |2 or 3 per building as 
needed 
Carbon paper, 84X11 
TYPE heer eee Box 3-14-018 | 1 per building 
Cards, fire drill.........} Each | 3-03-034 |1 per room plus 5. Re- 


placement only 
Chalk, soft enamel, 1 
gross in box, for plas- 


TEPDOarUS: «tie es cee Box 3-03-038 | 1 per room with plaster- 
boards 
Chalk, au-du-septic, 1 
gross in box). ..4. . wsad Fox 3-03-037 |1 per room with slate 
boards 
Composition books..... Each | 3-03-039 |1 per teacher and as 
necessary for needy 
pupils 


Erasers, type, for schools 
having typewriters....} Each | 3-14—051 | 1 per school having type- 
writer 


THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 


291 


An Extract From A LonGcer List.—Continued 





Article 


Ink, hectograph........ 


Ink, red, 2 oz. bottle.... 


Ink, mimeograph, No. 
384 


eoeoceerese ee ere eee eee e 


BCHOGIS ia. fetes 5 
Paper, pel ssay sten- 

cil No. 3 : 
Paper, ight. pads... 
Paper tablets No. 4, ‘for 

indigent students.. 


Paper tablets No. 10, for 
indigent students... 


Remspshoast .shevic. Bek oe 
Pens, No. 640, 3rd, 4th, 
LIP TALIGR eh Samael 


Pens, No. 790, 6th, 7th, 


Sth erades e ee. 
Penholders, cork grip, 
LEachene cee ey Sess 
Penholders indigent 
OU Dliaee stra ee ecu 
Article 
Maps, paper outline, 50 
to package 
Africa 303-162 
Asia 3—03-162 
Australia 3-03-164 
Europe 3—03-165 
Michigan 3—03-166 


North America 3—03-167 
South America 3—03-168 
United States 3-03-169 


World 3d—-03-170 


Unit 
Bottle | 3-03-095 





Code 





Distribution Per Year 


1 per hectograph if used 


Bottle | 3-03-096 |4-6 per building as 
needed 
Tube | 3-03-098 }1 or 2 per building as 
needed 
Pad 3-03-239 | 2 per building 
Quire | 3—03-241 | 2 per building 
Pad 3-03-242 | 4 per teacher 
Pad 3-03-243 | As necessary for needy 
pupils 
Pad 303-244 | As necessary for needy 
pupils 
Bag 3-03-252 | 3 per B1 teacher if used 
Box 3-03-253 | 2 per 25 pupils grades 3, 
,5 
Box 3-03-253 | 2 per 25 pupils grades 6, 
(i: 
Each | 3-14—-158 | 1 per teacher 
Each | 3-03-254 | As necessary for needy 
pupils 
Unit Non-Platoon Platoon 
Pkg.| 2 per 5A grade rm. | 2 per home rm. 5A 
Pkg.| 2 per 5A grade rm. | 2 per home rm. 5A 
Pkg.| 2 per 5A grade rm. | 2 per home rm. 5A 
Pkg.| 2 per 6B grade rm. | 2 per home rm. 6B 
Pkg.| 2 per 4B, 4A, 6B, | 2 per home rm. 4B 
6A, 7B, 7A grade | to 7A 
Pkg.| 2 per 5B grade rm. | 2 per home rm. 5B 
Pkg.| 2 per 5B grade rm. | 2 per home rm. 5B 
Pkg.| 2 per 4A, 6B, 6A, | 2 per home rm. 4A 


Pkg. 


7B, 7A grade 
2 per 6A grade rm. 


to 7A 
2 per home rm. 6A 





292 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 





Article Unit | Code Distribution Per Year 
Covers for Form 29. .|Each |8—03-040} 1 per teacher 
Date stamp rire ee Each |3—03-048) 1 per building 
Guides, rides sierra: 5 a Each |3—03-035| As needed for replacement 
Pencil sharpeners. . ....|Hach |3-04-117| 1 per 5rms. Replacement 

only 

Pitch pipes. ewe ores eae Each |3-03-256] 1 per teacher as needed 
Pointers, blackboard...... Each |3—03-258] As needed for replacement 
Stamp pad...............|Each |38—03-099| 1 per building 
Stylus ul es Sea eee Each |3-—03-—289) 1 per building 
Inkwells, teacher’s........|/Each |3—03-100| As needed for replacement 


Summary. It is necessary to separate the functions of 
selection from that of distribution in the handling of the 
materials of instruction. When the two functions are 
clearly separated, pupils should be supplied with more and 
better material, special supervisors will be freed’ for more 
important tasks, and more direct methods of accounting 
will be established. In the present state of affairs it is not. 
always possible to fix responsibility for the failure of the 
schools to get adequate quantities of books, supplies, and 
equipment of the proper quality. A division of function 
such as outlined in this chapter will: 


1. Distinguish hogs administrative and instructional activi- 
- ties 

2. Fix responsibility 

3. Free supervisors from an immense amount of clerical work 

4. Bring expert centralized buying 

5. Centralize distributions and deliveries 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


1. BAattny, E. W., and Fostsr, L. F., “A Science Laboratory 
and Classroom for Secondary Schools,’ School Board 
Journal, Vol. 66, Jan., 1923, pp. 57-58. 

2. Barr, A. S., “Textbook Accounting,’ Hlementary School 
Journal, Vol. 23, Oct., 1922, pp. 127-35. 


10. 


re 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 293 


. CHALLMAN, S. A., “Rooms and Equipment for a Department 


of Agriculture,” School Board Journal, Vol. 66, Jan., 1923, 
pp. 42-43 

, “Rooms and Equipment for Industrial Arts,” School 
Board Journal, Vol. 68, Jan., 1924, pp. 71-75. Floor plans 
and equipment for New York State, Michigan, Minnesota, 
and Pennsylvania, are given, together with critical dis- 
cussion. 





. Coorrr, E. E., “A Method for Scoring Textbooks,” Journal 


of Educational Method, Vol. 4, April, 1925, pp. 322 ff. 


. Fow.KeEs, J. G., Hvaluating School Textbooks (Silver Bur- 


dett & Co., 1923). Contains a statement of needs, historical 
development, and a form for reviewing textbooks. 


. FRANZEN, R. H., and Knicut, F. B., Textbook Selection 


(Warwick and York, 1922). An investigation into the 
possibilities of objective standards for judging textbooks. 


. Hatt-Qurest, A. L., The Textbook (The Maemillan Co., 


1918). The first book devoted to texts. Chapter IV con- 
tains many useful score cards and outlines. A valuable 
source book. 


. Hoop, W. R., “Free Textbooks for Public School Pupils,” 


U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 50, 1923. Pres- 
ent status, arguments for and against. 

Horn, Ernest, “The Selection of Silent Reading Textbooks,” 
Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 2, Oct., 1920, pp. 
615-19. Excellent analysis. Definite standards. 

Howarp, George, “Free Textbooks in Publie Schools,” Board 
of Education, Raleigh, N. C., 1924. <A discussion of pres- 
ent and future administration of free texts. 

Kerpuer, F. R., “Standard Auto Mechanics Shop Equip- 
ment.” Unpublished materials, Detroit Board of Educa- 
tion. 

Lewis, J. W., “Score Cards for Texts in Adult Immigrant 
Classes,” Proceedings of the National Education Associa- 
tion, Vol. 62, 1924, pp. 580-82. 

MAxwe LL, C. R., The Selection of Textbooks (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1921). 

PARKER, 8. C., and Temptn, Alice, Unified Kindergarten and 
First Grade Teaching (Ginn & Co., 1925). 


CHAPTER IX 


THE USE OF EDUCATIONAL TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS IN THE 
IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHING 


Measurement essential in supervision. Teaching, the 
focal point of supervision, is essentially a problem of pro- 
ducing changes in individuals. The best measures of teach- 
ing are to be found in the kinds and amounts of changes 
produced in individual learners. In order to know what 
learning has taken place, it is necessary to compare the 
learner’s ability before teaching with his ability after teach- 
ing. If no change has taken place, then no learning has 
taken place.t_ Whether the measurement is by the question- 
and-answer recitation, the oral quiz, the written examina- 
tion, or standardized tests, the measurement is important. 
The purpose of standardized tests is to render this measure- 
ment as exact as possible. 

Tests are not new in education. Measurement of the 
achievement of pupils is not new in education. It is prob- 
ably true that the results of teaching have been measured in 
one form or another since schools were organized. Standard- 
ized tests are nothing more or less than refined examina- 
tions. Improvement has come about by introducing 
weighted exercises, standardized content, controlled condi- 
tions of testing, objective scoring and norms, with which to 
compare results. There has grown up for these purposes a 
highly refined statistical procedure. The weighting, for 


1M. R. Trabue, Measuring Results in Education (American Book 
Co., 1924). See pages 18-19 for elaboration of this idea. 


294 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 295 


example, is done according to an accepted scientific proce- 
dure. It is not lett to chance. The content of the stand- 
ardized test is carefully chosen. Performance on standard 
tests is studied to assure correspondence between test scores 
and the ability under measurement. Uniform sets of direec- 
tions are used by all examiners, and through numerous 
devices, testing conditions are carefully controlled. The 
test is given under timed conditions, and finally compared 
with the norm, or average scores, of similar classes or groups 
of pupils. Through the application of such statistical 
methods, the measuring instruments of education have been 
greatly refined. 

The very obvious fact that a standard test is really but a 
eareful and intelligent refinement of the traditional ex- 
amination seems to have escaped many people. We still 
meet the teacher, supervisor, administrator, who ridicules 
and sneers at tests. 

Teachers’ grades are not always reliable. A number of 
investigations have been carried on relative to the teacher’s 
procedure and results in grading examination papers. 
Some of these studies have become classic in the field of 
education.? 

Starch and Elliott carried on a series of investigations in 
which two final examination papers in first year high-school 
English were graded by 142 English teachers in as many 
high schools, one final examination paper in geometry was 
graded by 118 teachers of mathematics, and one final exam- 
ination paper in American history was graded by 70 teach- 
ers in history. The differences are almost unbelievable. 
The marks for any given paper run practically over the 


2Daniel Starch, and E. C. Elliott, ‘‘Reliability of Grading in 
Mathematics,’’ School Review, Vol. 21, April, 1913, pp. 254-59. 
‘*Reliability of Grading in History,’’ ibid., Dec., 1913, pp. 676-81. 
Daniel Starch, ‘‘ The Reliability and Distribution of Grades,’’ Science, 
Vol. 38, pp. 630-36. 


296 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


entire range of the percentage scale ordinarily used. The 
marks on the first English paper varied all the way from 
64 to 98; on the second English paper from 50 to 98; on the 
geometry paper from 28 to 92; on the history paper from 
43 to 90. 

These and many similar investigations seem to establish 
two facts: (1) that teachers differ enormously in evaluat- 
ing the same pieces of work in terms of the ordinary grad- 
ing seale, and (2) that they differ as much in one subject as 
in another. They apparently disagree as much in evaluat- 
ing a paper in mathematics as one on English or history. 
Mathematics papers are evidently not graded with mathe- 
matical precision any more than are other papers. 

More recent studies of judgment indicate that these great 
variations in evaluation can be materially reduced through 
agreement upon some common standards of judgment 
among the judges, and through the training of judges in 
the application of these standards. The standard test of 
to-day sets up common standards for giving, scoring, and 
interpreting results. This renders the examining procedure 
far more reliable than the traditional written examination. 

The traditional examination is not so efficient as the 
standardized test. As a means of deriving measures of 
school work, the traditional examination is inadequate. 
Examinations fall short in one or more of the following 
respects: 

1. They are frequently constructed without definiteness of 
purpose. The examiner is not always clear as to the out- 
comes to be measured. Is the examination to test for facts, 
for reasoning power, for attitudes and ideals, or for skill? 
The traditional examiner has given little thought to this 
problem. 

2. Errors are introduced through the unequal value of 
questions. The questions or exercises which make up exam- 
inations are frequently assigned an equal value. Itis seldom 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 297 


that the same weight should be assigned to all exercises. 
Certain recent investigations seem, however, to offer evi- 
dence that the weighting of exercises is not as important as 
it was formerly thought to be. 

3. The content rs frequently poorly chosen. Often teach- 
ers trust to memory or to last-minute inspiration for their 
examination questions. Consequently the content of the 
examination is not always well selected. Furthermore, in 
many cases examinations are made up of questions from a 
number of different fields. The wide range of topies gives 
to the ‘‘grade’’ an indefinite meaning. 

4. The scoring is subjective. Experience has shown that 
teachers vary in their grading of examinations from paper 
to paper, and that grades for the same individual vary from 
teacher to teacher. The grade assigned is to a certain de- 
gree a matter of opinion. 

5. The rate of work ts usually neglected. In many school 
subjects the rate at which pupils work is important. It is 
customary in the traditional examination to allow all pupils 
ample time to complete the examination, and, if the exam- 
ination is not completed, the pupil is marked on the number 
of questions answered. 

6. There are no standards for interpreting results. Out- 
side the comparisons within the class group, there are no 
erade standards or age standards with which to compare 
achievement. 

The measurement of human abilities presents many dif- 
ficulties. Human abilities are very complex and present 
many difficulties to those attempting to measure them. The 
measurement of physical objects seems to be infinitely more 
simple than the measurement of educational products. 

In the first place, the objects themselves seem not to 
differ. A physical object may be measured to-day, to- 
morrow, a week from to-day, a year hence, and for practical 
purposes the object remains unchanged. That is, it seems 


298 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


to remain unchanged. As a matter of fact, steel rails differ 
in length in winter and summer. A certain very long rail- 
road bridge in this country varies in length nearly two feet 
depending upon the time of year. Builders allow for these 
changes in material in planning any kind of structural 
work. If we could make practically perfect measurements, 
it would probably be found that no characteristic of any 
physical object remains constant. Likewise boys and girls, 
the objects of educational measurement, are constantly 
changing. The same object can never be twice measured, 
nor can the same boy. The difference between physical and 
educational measurement is not so much one of kind as it is 
of amount. Just as steel rails vary, so do boys and girls, 
but the differences are likely to appear greater. The girl 
who solves twelve problems in two minutes to-day may 
solve only eight or six to-morrow. Mental abilities are 
affected by rest, sleep, illness, the previous mind set, and 
many other factors which do not enter into physical meas- 
urements. The strength of human abilities varies more 
widely than do the characteristics of physical objects.® 

In the second place, the instruments of measurement 
themselves seem not to differ. It is not always recognized 
by some eritics that instruments for measuring intelligence 
and educational outcomes are going through somewhat the 
same stages of development as did instruments for measur- 
ing length and weight. The average citizen tends to look 
upon a ‘‘foot’’ as a fixed and universal unit of measure- 
ment. It has not been, nor is it now a fixed unit. It has 
varied historically, and at present varies as much as two 
inches between countries. In each country there is a bureau 
of standard weights and measures which preserves carefully 
the standard units for that country by which all instru- 
ments in use there are judged. Even with these standard 


3 For a further discussion of this point, see M. R. Trabue, Measur- 
ing Results in Education (American Book Co., 1924), pp. 20-23. 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 299 


units, scientists will differ, even if only minutely, in their 
measurements. Of course, for practical purposes physical 
measurements are accurate and the same for all individuals. 
But they were not originally so. It is therefore entirely 
natural to find larger variations in the field of human meas- 
urement. The thing being measured is inherently more 
variable, and the instruments of measurement are still in 
the early stages of development.* 

Thorndike’s classic discussion of the nature of measure- 
ment. Probably the best statement of the nature of meas- 
urement is provided by EH. L. Thorndike. He says:° 


In general the nature of educational measurements is the same 
as that of all scientific measurements. 

In detail, however, there are notable differences. An educa- 
tional product, such as a composition written, a solution of a 
problem in arithmetic, an answer to a question about history, a 
drawing of a house or the performance of an errand, is com- 
monly a complex of many sorts of things. The task of measuring 
it seems more like measuring a house or an elephant than it is 
like measuring a length or a volume or a weight. A complete 
measurement of, say, a composition, might include an exact defini- 
tion of its spelling, its usage of words, its usage of word forms, 
its wit, its good sense and so on and on; and each of these 
might again be subdivided into a score or more of component 
elements. 

What we do, of course, is to make not such a complete meas- 
urement of the total fact, but to measure the amount of some 
feature, e.g., the general merit of the composition or the rich- 
ness of its vocabulary, just as physical science does not measure 
the elephant, but his height, or his weight, or his health, or his 
strength of pull. Every measurement represents a highly partial 
and abstract treatment of the product. This is not understood 
by some of our critics who object to tests and scales because of 


4 For a further discussion of this point see M. R. Trabue, Measuring 
Results in Education (American Book Co., 1924), pp. 20-23. 

5E. L. Thorndike, ‘‘The Nature, Purposes, and General Methods 
of Measurements of Educational Products,’’ Seventeenth Yearbook, 
National Society for the Study of Education, pp. 16-17. 


300 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


their limited point of view. The eritic’s real point should be 
that an educational product commonly invites hundreds of meas- 
urements as we all well know. It should be noted also that 
single measurements are still in a sense complex, being com- 
parable to volume, wattage or the opsonic index, rather than to 
length, weight or temperature. 

Whatever exists at all, exists in some amount. To know it 
thoroughly involves knowing its quantity as well as its quality. 
Education is concerned with changes in human beings; a change 
is a difference between two conditions; each of these conditions 
is known to us only by the products produced by it—things 
made, words spoken, acts performed, and the like. To measure 
any of these products means to define its amount in some way 
so that competent persons will know how large it is, better than 
they would without measurement. To measure a product well 
means so to define its amount that competent persons will know 
how large it is, with some precision, and that this knowledge may 
be conveniently recorded and used. This is the general Credo of 
those who, in the last decade, have been busy trying to extend and 
improve measurements of educational products. 


Kinds of tests available for supervisors. The measure- 
ment movement has developed along two related and 
parallel lines: (1) educational measurements and (2) 
tests of intelligence. Educational tests, scales, and exam- 
inations have for their purpose the measurement of pupil 
achievement ; intelligence tests aim to measure native ability 
or capacity. The one gives a measure of status; the other 
a measure of probable rate of progress. It is not necessary 
for our purpose here to go into detail. 

Of the educational tests, many, such as the Thorndike 
Handwriting Scale, the Ayres Seale in Handwriting, the 
Thorndike-McCall Reading Seales, Ayres Spelling Seale, 
the Courtis Arithmetic Tests, the Monroe Tests in Arith- 
metic, and Reading, the Woody Scales, ete., have become 
famous. Any standard book on measurements will supply 
ample up-to-date information upon available tests. 

The best known intelligence tests are the Stanford Re- 
vision of the Binet-Simon Seale, the Army Tests, and the 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 801 


seales devised by Thorndike, Dearborn, Haggerty, Otis, 
Pressey, and Terman. 

Educational tests. Educational tests available for 
supervisory use may be classified variously. First, from 
the point of view of the predominant mental process meas- 
ured, tests may be memory tests, gudgment tests, attitude 
tests, ete. The two most common are information and 
judgment tests. Second, from the point of view of the 
variable measured, tests may be rate tests, power tests, or 
quality scales. Rate tests are usually so constructed that 
the exercises are of equal difficulty with the time for work 
and quality of work held constant. Power tests are com- 
posed of scaled exercises of increasing difficulty. The pur- 
pose of such tests is to measure the pupil’s ability to master 
exercises of increasing difficulty. Qwality scales have been 
developed for such subjects as handwriting, sewing, English 
composition, ete., where the product cannot be judged 
either wholly right or wholly wrong. The quality of pupil 
performance is given a quantitative evaluation by compar- 
ing it with the quality scale. Third, from the point of view 
of their use, tests may be diagnostic, prognostic, or survey 
tests. Diagnostic tests aim to diagnose or dissect, by obtain- 
ing performances typical of the different mental processes 
involved in the learning of the several aspects cf the subject 
under measurement. The pupil may read historical ma- 
terial understandingly but remember it poorly, and so on. 
Prognostic tests aim to predict probable success in a given 
field of learning. Survey tests aim to measure attainment, 
progress, or status. These are the types most commonly in 
use. Teachers and supervisors should select tests, keeping 
in mind the uses to which they are to be put. 

Intelligence tests. These tests are of two kinds, those 
designed for testing one individual at a time, and those 
designed to test large groups of individuals simultaneously. 

Individual tests. The pioneer intelligence test is the 


302 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


famous Binet-Simon Scale. There have been numerous 
revisions of it, the Stanford Revision probably being the 
best known. This test is arranged to include a series of 
questions for each age from three up to fifteen, eleven and 
thirteen excepted. There are, in addition, tests for average 
and superior adults. The subject is asked to answer ques- 
tions or perform certain tasks. Giving the test and scor- 
ing the answers has been reduced to a routine, which, it is 
claimed, any competent teacher can follow. For rough test- 
ing the teacher can probably be entrusted with the work 
after brief training. In important and difficult cases the 
supervisor or a trained expert in testing should give it 
himself. Greatest care should be exercised at all times in 
giving and interpreting the tests. The explicit directions 
and full explanation of possible answers contained in Ter- 
man’s The Measurement of Intelligence should be mastered 
by the supervisor.® 

Group tests. The use of intelligence tests in the army 
emphasized the need for handling large numbers of sub- 
jects at once, and there have been worked out a number of 
eroup intelligence tests. In school, these group tests should 
probably be applied first, and followed by individual testing 
and investigation of those cases which differ markedly from 
the normal. The best known group intelligence tests were 
listed earlier in the chapter. 

Limitations of intelligence tests. There is a tendency in 
some quarters to base all decisions on intelligence tests. 
This is probably not wise, because such tests have definite 
limitations. The emotional side of the individual is not 
investigated In any way, nor is special talent discovered. 
The I. Q. is a fair index of what a student can do but not of 
what he will do. Furthermore, though it locates the child 
in a general way, the test is not a pedagogical guide. It 


6L. M. Terman, The Measurement of Intelligence (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1916). 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 303 


must be supplemented by other tests and by personal in- 
vestigations, which will aid in determining the proper peda- 
gogical procedure. Tor a scientific discussion of the fore- 
going general statements, the supervisor is referred to a 
study made jointly by Breed and Breslich and reported in 
the January and March, 1922, issues of the School Review. 
The conclusions are based upon carefully measured evi- 
dence and indicate how intelligence tests may be used. The 
limitations are pointed out, and it is shown that school 
achievement is affected in marked degree by the factors 
other than intelligence. Many other similar studies have 
since appeared. 

Despite the limitations, however, the best tests, when 
used with care and discrimination, especially the Binet- 
Simon Seale, are very material aids to the supervisor. 

The selection of tests. The first problem that confronts 
teachers, principals, or supervisors interested in the ap- 
plication of educational measurement or intelligence tests 
to school products is the selection of suitable instru- 
ments of measurement, There is available to-day a fair 
assortment of tests from which to choose.? What, then, 
are the characteristics of a good test? The following points 
may be noted in selecting tests: ® 


1. Note facts of title. Author, date of publication, grade in 
which test is to be used, and the number of parallel forms avail- 
able. 

2. The function of the test. What specific abilities is the test 
designed to measure? 

3. Agreement with educational objectives. Does the test meas- 
ure the significant outcomes of the subject to which the test is to 
be applied? 


7““Bibliography of Educational and Psychological Tests and 
Measurements,’’ compiled by Margaret Doherty and Josephine Mac- . 
Latchy under the direction of B. R. Buckingham, U. S. Bureau of 
Education, Bulletin No. 55, 1923. 

-8 W. 8S. Monroe, The Theory of Educational Measurements (Hough- 
ton Mifflin Co., 1923), pp. 183-85. 


3804 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


4. The nature of the pupil’s performance. What does the 
pupil do? What kinds of exercises are used? Are the exercises 
such as.to secure performancy representative of the pupil’s real 
ability ? 

5. The control over testing conditions. Are the directions for 
giving the test adequate? Elements of time, manner of distribut- 
ing papers, explanations to the pupils, and the like should be 
standardized. 

6. The selection of test exercises. Are the exercises representa- 
tive of the subject to be tested, and have they been selected ac- 
cording to acceptable scientific procedures? 

7. The weighting of test exercises. Are the exercises of the 
test scaled? Has each exercise a definite scale value? 

8. The validity of the test. Has the test been validated ac- 
cording to acceptable statistical procedures? Do all pupils have 
an opportunity to demonstrate their ability? Are the exercises 
of the test so selected and so constructed that there is a con- 
stant functional relationship between the pupils’ performance as 
represented in test scores and the specific ability under meas- 
urement? Does the test measure what it purports to meas- 
ure? 

9. Objectivity of the test. Are the exercises of the test so con- 
structed that the scoring is objective and constant from examiner 
to examiner? A test is perfectly objective when identical re- 
sults are secured from more than one application of the same 
test to the pupils by different examiners. 

10. Reliability of the test. Will two or more applications of 
the same test, or a duplicate form of it, given to the same pupils 
by the same examiner yield comparable scores, or will scores for 
the same individuals fluctuate? 

11. Discrimination of the test. Are the scores sufficiently dis- 
tributed to show differences between individuals, and groups 
which are known to differ in ability? Does the distribution agree 
with the normal curve? 

12. Test norms. Are norms or average attainment of similar 
age groups, grade groups, or mental groups available? 

13. Practical considerations. Is the time required for giving 
the test, time required for scoring, and the cost of test materials 
such that the tests be used with a reasonable outlay of time and 
money ? 


Whatever tests are selected should be selected in terms 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 305 


of the specific uses to which they are to be put. If the 
purpose of the testing program isto determine the quality of 
work in a given subject, one of the numerous survey tests, 
such as the Cleveland Survey Tests in Arithmetic, or the 
Ayres Spelling Scale may be used. If the aim is diagnosis, 
diagnostie tests such as the Freeman Handwriting Scale or 
combinations of tests of diagnostic value should be selected. 
If the aim is a survey of general educational conditions, bat- 
teries of tests such as the Illinois Examination or the Stan- 
ford Achievement Test should be used. The tests and uses 
to which they are put should usually coincide. Generally 
speaking, the testing program should provide for a com- 
parison of achievement with general intelligence. 

How to administer a testing program. Monroe organizes 
the supervisory use of tests into four steps: (1) giving 
them; (2) tabulating the results; (3) interpreting the re- 
sults; and (4) prescribing and carrying out remedial treat- 
ment.® 

Giving the tests. Practically all tests are accom- 
panied by sheets of directions, and not a few have elab- 
orate manuals. The conditions under which the test is 
taken, the manner of giving the directions, even the exact 
wording in some eases, all affect the results, and care must 
be exercised to see that the administration of any test con- 
forms with standardized conditions. Only by exercising 
this care can comparable results be obtained. 

Testing by the teacher. An interesting program for 
bringing teachers to a realization of the need for testing 
and for introducing them to the technique is outlined by 
S. S. Brooks.2° At a teachers’ meeting mimeographed 
copies of an answer taken from a pupil’s paper were handed 


—s 


- 9Monroe, De Voss and Kelly, Educational Tests and Measurements 
Houghton Mifflin Co., 1917), pp. 284-302. 

10S. 8. Brooks, ‘‘Getting Teachers to Feel the Need for Standard- 
ized Tests,’’ Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 1, pp. 425-35. 


306 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


out and the teachers asked to grade it. No instructions 
were given, and when the results were tabulated on the 
board, such wide divergence was shown as to stagger the 
group. The methods of grading were then analyzed and 
the group made aware as never before of the necessity for 
some fairer and more uniform method of testing pupils 
than by erratically graded papers. At a second meeting a 
list of questions was given out to be weighted by the teach- 
ers. Again a wide divergence was shown in estimating the 
difficulty and worth of the questions. The teachers were 
then asked to take the list home and give it to one of their 
elasses. At the third meeting the answer papers were 
oraded and the results tabulated. The number of times a 
question was missed or answered was tabulated, as well as 
the pupils’ total scores. Not only did the grades differ 
materially, but many questions were shown to be too hard 
or too easy, though the teacher’s rating of the week before 
had not indicated such a thing. At the fourth meeting the 
group was then introduced to standard measurements, the 
method of giving them and of interpreting the results. 
Probably this exact program would not be necessary with 
groups containing many well-trained teachers because most 
of them realize the need for tests already. However, many 
suggestions can be gained from this plan. 

When testing is placed on a voluntary basis and where 
there is no central bureau to assist teachers, the superin- 
tendent, principals, and supervisors should provide train- 
ing for teachers in the giving, scoring of tests, and the in- 
terpretation of results. The teacher who undertakes test- 
ing should make every possible effort to become acquainted 
with the test before giving it, the directions for giving, and 
the directions for scoring. Any change from standard test- 
ing conditions, that is, any variation which tends either to 
increase or decrease the scores, should be avoided. The 
comparison of test scores with norms is useless unless tests 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS a mOUe 


are given under standard conditions. On this topic, Gray 
says in part: 14 


In this connection supervisors find it necessary to provide sys- 
tematic training and instruction for teachers. The following 
methods [may be used]. . . . Conferences held in which teachers 
are informed concerning the purposes and values of tests, and 
are trained to use them effectively through discussion, demonstra- 
tion, and use. The use of tests [may be] begun in one or two 
buildings, under the immediate supervision of the principal or 
superintendent. As the teachers of these schools become more 
or less expert they are relieved of some of their responsibilities 
so that they can instruct teachers in other buildings. This plan 
has been employed successfully in Rochester, New York. As soon 
as teachers develop skill in the intelligent use of tests, they 
are encouraged to adopt them as a routine part of their work. 
The supervisor serves in this connection as a progressive leader 
in securing results along several lines . . . The results of tests 
are thoroughly discussed so that accurate interpretations of their 
significance can be made. The supervisor holds himself respon- 
sible for assembling the scientific material which relates to the 
problems under consideration and for their presentation and in- 
terpretation to the teaching staff. Provision is made for the 
frequent discussion of studies which have been made by teachers 
within the system. Every possible opportunity is utilized to 
stimulate interest on the part of the teachers in making de- 
tailed studies of their problems. 


A city-wide testing program. In many cities there is a 
central office charged with the responsibility for the testing 
program. In such eases it is desirable to have as much uni- 
formity as possible in the giving and scoring of tests 
throughout the system. In order that the giving, scoring, 
and tabulating of tests may attain a reasonable degree of 
uniformity throughout the system, general directions in one 
form or another are necessary. The Detroit Board of Edu- 
cation, for example, has set aside a specific week for test- 


11 W. 8. Gray, ‘‘ Methods of Improving the Technique of Teach- 
ing,’’ Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, December, 1919, p. 269, 


308 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


ing, and has issued a booklet of directions covering the 
main features of the program.12 Many other cities have fol- 
lowed a similar procedure. Some of the more important 
directions given in the Detroit instruction pamphlet follow: 


Instructions to Principals 

1. Before each test you will be asked to send to the stockroom 
for a package of test material, consisting of (1) tests, (2) indi- 
vidual record cards, (3) class record cards, (4) answer cards, 
(5) instructions, (6) class record sheets. Please distribute to 
the teacher of each room, of the appropriate grades, one copy 
each of the instructions, the answer cards, and the class record 
cards; also enough copies of the tests and of the individual 
record cards to supply each child in her room with one copy of 
each. Give her also one copy of the class record sheet for each 
class in her room. Please see that at the time the tests are 
given, each teacher uses a watch having a second hand, and that 
she CHOOSES THE CORRECT TIME ALLOWANCE FOR HER GRADE. 

2. When a test has been completed, collect from each teacher 
her packages of individual record cards, her class record ecard, 
and the duplicate class record sheet. The teacher is to retain 
the original class record sheet and the test papers. Special at- 
tention is called to the need for organization, promptness and 
cooperation in carrying out the testing program in schools where 
there is departmentalization as different teachers must use the 
same individual record cards. Principals are asked particularly 
to see to it that during testing week each day’s work is completed 
promptly so that the ecards will be available for the test the fol- 
lowing day. 

When all tests have been completed, arrange the records as 
follows: (a) Pin each class record card to the top of the corre- 
sponding class record sheet. When final tests are given, place 
retabulation class record sheet on the top of the final sheet and 
pin card on top of both. The class record sheet should not be 
folded. (b) Sort these records into piles by subject or test. 
Class record cards and sheets for all classes in the school taking 
Arithmetic Test B would be in one pile, all Spelling records in 
another pile, and so on, the records of each different test in a 


12 ‘“Tnstructions for Giving, Scoring, and Tabulating All General 
Tests,’’ Board of Education, Detroit, 1923. 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 309 


different pile. When all records have been sorted, clip or tie 
each pile firmly so that records will not be mixed or lost. (c) 
Tie all packs of duplicate individual record cards together in one 
bundle. (d) Put all the above records for the school together 
in a single bundle, mark it “For the Department of Educational 
Research,” send it to 1354 Broadway on or before the second 
Monday following the day the test is given. Extra copies of 
individual and class record cards should be preserved for future 
use. Extra copies of the test papers should be returned. 

The packages of original individual record cards are to be 
kept on file in the principal’s office. 

Two or three weeks after a test, a report in duplicate will be 
sent you. This report will show the scores made by the city 
as a whole, and by the classes in your school. You are asked 
to draw the graph of these scores, and to write on the back of 
the graph such explanations of very high or low scores as you are 
able. You are to return one completed copy to the department 
to be put on file in the superintendent’s office. At this time 
please see that each teacher compares her record with the city 
scores. 


Instruction to Teachers. Specific instructions for giving, scor- 
ing and tabulating each of the various tests will be found on 
later pages, but certain principles apply to all tests, and those 
principles are stated in the paragraphs which follow. Compari- 
sons of the results of tests by trained examiners with those from 
tests by teachers have proved that teachers who follow instruc- 
tions and keep exact time allowance are able to secure reliable 
results. 

The scores from a test have no meaning apart from the con- 
ditions under which it is given. That is, if a teacher gives a test: 
three times in a week, and reports the third trial only, the third 
trial may not measure at all the ability that is measured by the 
tests given by other teachers who followed instructions and gave 
the test but once. The scores from a four minute trial are not 
comparable with those from a five minute trial. Therefore, 
teachers should realize that detailed and precise instructions are 
given in order that conditions may be uniform from test to test, 
and from school to school. 


Permission to Change. In the giving of a particular test in 
different rooms, adjustments are often necessary and teachers: 


310 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


should feel free to make such common-sense adjustments as are 
demanded by the local situation. 

The conditions under which a test is given are of two kinds: 
vital and significant. Changes in significant conditions are rela- 
tively unimportant, but the slightest change in the vital condi- 
tions should be reported in writing on the class record card for 
that test. The vital conditions are timing, incentives, prepara- 
tion, and scoring. 


- Tvming. The value of a test for comparative purposes is lost 
if exact times are not kept. Just before giving a test, consult 
the tables of time allowances and record at once on the class 
record card in the space provided, the time you are to use for 
your grade. At the time of the second test, be sure to use the 
same time allowances. 

In giving a test, use a watch having a second hand. Always 
give the signal “start’? when the second hand is exactly on the 
60 mark. It is easier to keep exact times from this point on 
a watch than from any other. 


Incentives. The manner of the teacher may have a great effect 
upon the results. Do not hurry the children or create a tense 
situation. The best results will be secured if the children work 
easily and naturally. On no account say or do anything to em- 
phasize either speed or accuracy. Give the tests as if they were 
part of the daily work. 

Be careful also not to make any appeals to the children other 
than those contained in the instructions. It is very easy and 
quite natural to unduly stimulate the children by discussing the 
meaning of the results, the last tests, standards, ete., but such 
additional remarks may defeat the purposes for which the test 
is given. The time for such discussions is after the test and not 
before. The purpose of a test is not to extract from the chil- 
dren the utmost of which they are capable, but to determine what 
they will do under the test conditions. 

Therefore, give the tests quietly and composedly, with as little 
departure from normal classroom conditions as possible. Nat- 
uralness and spontaneous concentration because of interest in a 
pleasurable exercise are the conditions desired. 


Preparation. Tests should be given without warning, and no 
special preparation should be made for them. No similar tests 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 311 


should be given during the preceding week. By special prep- 
aration is meant such things as practicing giving a test, practice 
on the special content of a test, drilling just to make a showing in 
the test. Regular work is not special preparation. 


Explanations. In some tests, practice material is provided, 
that the children may know what is expected of them in the 
test itself. In such cases additional explanations are often nec- 
essary before all the children are ready for the test. These the 
teacher should feel free to make. She should, however, follow 
the general model provided, taking care not to use any of the 
material in the test itself, or to go beyond the explanations sug- 
gested. 


Time of Day. The tests may be given any time during the day 
that suits the teacher’s convenience, but probably the middle of 
the morning is the best time. Only very unusual circumstances 
ought to lead to the giving of the tests on other than the days 
indicated in the general or special instructions issued by the 
superintendent. 


Mistakes. When mistakes are made in timing or following di- 
rections, or when tests are interrupted by fire drills or the like, 
repeat the test two or three days later. In all such cases, how- 
ever, record the facts under ‘‘Remarks.” Similarly, any teacher 
should feel privileged to repeat a test which she regards as un- 
satisfactory, provided both scores are reported with appropriate 
comments. The tests are meant as aids to teachers, and any 
variation desired is permissible provided proper records are made 
so that the results may be studied. 

Scoring the papers. Well-standardized tests are so con- 
structed that they offer little chance for individual varia- 
tions in scoring. There is for each exercise one right an- 
swer. As a rule no eredit is given for answers partially 
correct. In most cases the test will be accompanied by a 
well worked-out set of answers with directions for scoring. 
The Detroit Manual ** makes the following suggestions : 


When the papers have been exchanged, read the correct an- 
Swers and as far as possible have the children mark the papers. 


18 Jbid., p. 17. 


312 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


If this is done carefully, the children’s scoring will be reliable in 
grades above the third. For the third and lower grades the 
scoring must be done by the teacher. Where children are known 
to be unintelligent, their scoring should be checked. 

Certain kinds of scores cannot be found by the children, but 
teachers are expected to avail themselves of the children’s help 
just as far as possible, not only because it saves the teacher and 
hastens the completion of the final tabulations, but chiefly because 
such following of instructions, correction of papers, ete. is a 
valuable form of training. That is, teachers are asked to regard 
following instructions, scoring papers, ete. as a part of the 
regular educational work for the grade. 


Tabulating the results. The tabulation of the results 
and the arrangement of them in distribution tables, dia- 
erams, graphs, ete., often involves a large amount of detail 
clerical work, and, wherever possible, clerical help should 
be provided. In some school systems, this part of the pro- 
eram is taken care of in a central office. Sometimes it can 
be taken care of in the school by older pupils. Where there 
is a commercial department, the students of this depart- 
ment may be of assistance. As far as possible, the teacher 
should be freed from clerical work. At the same time, how- 
ever, it 1s usually wise to keep the teacher in sufficient con- 
tact with the scoring and tabulation of results to give her 
an appreciation of the conditions revealed. In any ease 
she should be supplied with the results of the tests at the 
earliest possible date following the giving of the tests. 

The statistical procedure involved in tabulation is made 
by some people very complex, intricate, and difficult. For 
ordinary purposes this is not necessary; there are only a 
few terms and processes which the teacher needs to know. 
Any teacher should know what is meant by such terms as 
the following: normal distribution curve, bi-modal curve, 
surface of frequency, graph, median, mode, average, central 
tendency, frequency, deviation, correlation. She should be 
able to make the graphs and curves, to compute the median, 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 313 


mode, and deviation. She should be able to make a table 
that shows at a glance the highest and lowest scores and the 
sequence from one to the other. Probably the computations 
of correlations, other than the simplest ones, can be left to 
the expert. 

Teachers and supervisors should without fail construct 
the tables and graphs which are the graphic representation 
of test results. Without these visual aids, diagnosis is hard 
to make and is not always safe. These devices throw every- 
thing into clear relief and make the actual situation easy 
to see. 

The interpretation of results and the prescription of 
remedial measures. These two phases of the work are 
treated together because of their obvious relationship. 

Monroe cites a city superintendent as saying that the 
pupils in his schools had taken a number of tests but did no 
better work afterwards than they had done before.1* The 
misunderstanding of tests and their uses, implied in that 
superintendent’s statement, is fairly common. If the pu- 
pils’ papers are not examined and analyzed for the purpose 
of prescribing remedial instruction, it is a waste of time to 
give the tests. They are not primarily teaching devices 
with which to stimulate interest, though they will do that : 
neither will the pupils’ abilities increase merely through 
taking them. They are for the purpose of supplying 
teacher and supervisor with information upon which to base 
the direction of the learning process. 

Making and giving the tests has brought out many un- 
suspected facts in regard to the processes involved in the 
supposedly simple operations in arithmetic, spelling, read- 
ing, and writing. In arithmetic, for instance, it has been 
found that adding a column of two or three figures is not 


14 W. S. Monroe, ‘‘Improvement of Instruction through Use of 
Educational Tests,’’ Journal of Educational Kesearch, Vol. 1, Feb., 
1920, p. 95. 


314 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


at all the same process as adding a column of eight or ten 
figures. Courtis lists seven processes involved in addition, 
three in subtraction, six in multiplication, nine in division, 
all of them requiring a specific habit or automatism. Some » 
of the Courtis tests automatically diagnose the difficulty for 
any specific pupil. 

The differentiation between oral and silent reading has 
been made only in comparatively recent times. Most lay 
critics and many teachers will not admit that there is much 
difference, but as a matter of fact there are several differ- 
ent and important processes involved in silent reading alone. 

Freeman’s work in analyzing handwriting into a number 
of processes, each valuable for diagnosing a ease of poor 
writing, is a monumental piece of work, showing very 
clearly how the composite thing, a written word, involves 
several factors and abilities on the part of the pupil. 

Many other illustrations could be cited. As has been 
stated, one of the most important duties of teacher or super- 
visor is to give standard tests and analyze the results to 
determine more exactly what is the matter, which process 
has been neglected in drill, which is hard for most pupils, 
easy for most, ete. An excellent summary is found in 
Monroe :1° 


Different classes as a whole have different needs, and the indi- 
vidual members of a class have a great variety of pupil needs. 
The first step, however, in interpreting the scores of a class is to 
ascertain the needs that are common to the class as a whole or 
to large groups within the class. This should be followed by an 
individual interpretation of the scores of those pupils at the 
extremes of the group, particularly of those conspicuously be- 
low standard. At present, we do not have sufficient scientific 
information to permit us to formulate complete statements of the 
pupil needs which are indicated by the various combinations of 
symptoms. In the absence of such formulations, it will be help- 
ful to outline a general procedure which may be followed in 


15 Ibid. 





TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 315 


interpreting the scores of a class after they have been tabulated 
on the class record sheet. In order that the subject may be as 
concrete as possible, it will be stated in terms of the Courtis 
Standard Research Tests, Series B. However one can easily 
adapt the general plan to any other test. 
In a rough way, we may group the great variety of combina- 
tions of scores of classes under six cases, as follows: 
Case 1. Class medians below standard in both rate and accu- 
racy 
Case 2. Class medians for rate below standard with satisfac- 
tory or high accuracy medians 
Case 3. Class medians for accuracy below standard with sat- 
isfactory or high rate medians 
Case 4. Scores of members of class widely scattered 
Case 5. Irregular development; class medians in one test up 
to or above standard with class medians “in another 
test distinctly below standard 
Case 6. Class medians for both rate and accuracy up to or 
above standard with the individual scores grouped 
closely about the medians 


Any particular class may exhibit certain combinations of these 
conditions. For example, the median rate in a test (i.e., addi- 
tion) may be below standard with a satisfactory or high accuracy 
median, and at the same time the scores of the members of the 
class may be widely scattered. 

For each of these cases, it is possible to list certain probable 
needs. All of these needs may not apply to a given class, but 
some of them will almost certainly be appropriate. In ceneral, 
it will be profitable to investigate these needs first and determine 
which of them apply to the class in question. The most probable 
needs for each ease are given below: 


The following is a very abbreviated summary of Monroe’s 
detailed discussion of probable needs: 


Case 1. Probably inefficient teaching, though some other causes 
might enter into extraordinary cases. Specifically, 
the difficulty probably is that drill periods are not 
utilized to the best advantage. 

Case 2. Lack of speed drills is the probable cause. Or, the 
speed drills have not been properly motivated. The 


316 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


devices used may have focused attention elsewhere 
than on the process needing drill. 

Case 3. May be due to improper conditions at time of test. 
Pupils often have to be trained to work at fair speed 
under pressure of a time limit. One of the several 
processes involved in addition may be weak. 

Case 4. In this case there is need for more individual testing 
than in any of the others. There should be an in- 
quiry into the past history of the pupils. 

Case 5. Irregular development is made possible because there 
are a number of types of examples. Emphasis in 
teaching can be shifted to meet the trouble. The 
Courtis Standard Research Tests, Series B, can only 
show irregularities between the four fundamental 
operations. A series of diagnostic tests will reveal 
irregularities between different types within the 
same operation. 

Case 6. When medians and distributions are satisfactory, there 
are still needs to be met. Promotion for some pu- 
pils to a higher grade may be indicated. Less time 
to this subject and more to others, or opportunity 
to take a new subject might be involved. 


Locating a class under one of these possible cases is the 
first step in interpretation, and is necessarily somewhat 
erude. The teacher should examine not only the scores but 
also the individual papers of the pupils. Another helpful 
device is to watch the pupil as he works or have him ex- 
press orally what processes he goes through as he works. 
All the many possible errors in arithmetic, a wrong com- 
bination, a misplaced decimal, irregular columns, wrong 
reading or copying, incorrect manipulation of fractions, 
can be detected and corrected. Once the difficulty is lo- 
eated, the teacher can then modify her teaching methods 
accordingly. In some of the cases cited above, the need was 
for more intelligent application of the rules for drill. In 
Case 2 probably the rule regarding waste of time on non- 
essential details should have been applied more carefully. 

Tn reading, the tests may show a vocabulary lack or there 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 317 


may be too much emphasis on oral reading, and not enough 
on silent reading. In silent reading pupils may differ in 
speed and comprehension. In case of too great emphasis on 
oral reading, material calling for interpretation should be 
introduced. Games involving printed directions are good 
devices. Written directions in regard to some procedures 
in school might be utilized occasionally. Supplementary 
material can be read and reported to the class by the pupil 
in his own words. Experienced teachers will have or can 
evolve intelligent devices in this matter. The supervisor 
should be on the lookout for good ones and organize them 
for distribution. 

Spelling has a considerable number of possible errors. 
Many are due to mispronunciation, others to careless pro- 
nuneiation and writing. Phonic irregularities in the lan- 
cuage account for still others. Tests will show which words 
a class needs to study. Drill devices can then be arranged 
to meet the need. Interesting paragraphs can be prepared 
with blanks to be filled in with the difficult words. There 
is some argument regarding the value of showing pupils 
certain errors and telling them to avoid them. Provided 
the pupil is making the error constantly, his attention can 
probably be directed to it safely, especially if the correct 
form is emphasized also and kept before him. 

Handwriting tests will reveal whether the trouble is with 
speed, slant, letter formation, or spacing. The position of 
the pupil at the desk, the type of finger or arm movement, 
will condition the product. 

Other school subjects could be discussed as have been the 
few preceding ones. The supervisor should be familiar with 
such discussions of remedial treatment as can be found in 
Monroe, DeVoss and Kelly, Educational Tests and Measure- 
ments, and McCall, How to Measure in Education. He 
should also be familiar with administrative schemes to meet 
the needs discovered by the use of tests. 


318 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Some general supervisory uses of tests and measure- 
ments. The illustrative material included in the foregoing 
general discussion has indicated the general testing pro- 
cedure. We may now turn our attention to a more specific 
discussion of the major uses of measurement, of which 
there seem to be seven. 


. The classification and promotion of , pupils 
. Measurement of educational outcomes (survey testing) 
. Evaluating the efficiency of the teacher 
. Measurement in teaching 
(a) Setting of standards 
(b) Improvement of examinations 
(c) Development of study directions 
(d) Practice tests 
. Educational diagnosis 
. Educational and vocational guidance 
7. Research and experimentation 


m oo Do 


o> OV 


Some of the uses listed are administrative, but the em- 
phasis here is upon their supervisory implications. 

The classification and promotion of pupils. Three plans 
have been suggested for providing for individual differ- 
ences: (1) ability groups; (2) differentiated assignments ; 
and (38) individual instruction. Intelligence tests and 
educational tests are used in one form or another in 
cach of these schemes of providing tor individual differ- 
ences. 

Ability groups. Many teachers, principals, and super- 
visors have attempted to provide for individual differences 
by grouping pupils in ability sections. These sections 
or groups are usually designated as A, B, C, as X, Y, 
and Z, or as superior, normal, and dull groups. Each 
group may be treated as a separate class (where there is a 
sufficient number of pupils in the grade to make such a 


procedure possible), or as groups within the class. The 


bases for sectioning most frequently used are scores made 


~ \.) >; oe 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 319 


upon intelligence tests given at the beginning of the school 
year, upon educational tests, upon school work, or upon a 
combination or composite score?® derived from the three 
measures. 

Adequate provision for individual differences demands 
that many measurements be made, taking into considera- 
tion factors of interest, of effort, of training, of maturity, 
of health, of intelligence, etc. Most systems of classifica- 
tion have not attempted to take accurate account of all of 
these factors. Usually classification is based, as has already 
been pointed out, upon some scheme of measuring educa- 
tional status, the rate of progress, and general maturity, 
the chronological age being used for the latter. Educa- 
tional tests such as the Thorndike-McCall Reading Seale, 
the Courtis Arithmetic Tests, Series B, the Ayres Spelling 
Seale, the Hillegas Composition Scales, the Woody Arith- 
metic Seales, may be used to determine educational status. 
The Terman Group Intelligence Test, the Haggerty In- 
telligence Examination, the Miller Mental Ability Test, the 
Otis Classification or any number of similar tests may be 
used to measure capacity and probable rate of progress. 
Some supervisors prefer educational tests; others prefer 
intelligence tests. But an adequate classification program 
must take into consideration both educational status and 
probable rate of progress. 

Differentiated assignments. A second method of provid- 
ing for individual differences is that of varying the 
assignment for individuals within the group. Where such a 
plan of work is pursued, the work of the course is usually 
broken up into units of subject matter, each unit including 
a major project, a problem or topic extending over a period 
of one to two weeks. Provision is made for the different 
levels of ability within each unit. A lower level of mini- 


16 Wm. A. McCall, How to Measure in Education (The Macmillan 
Co., 1922), pp. 25-32. 


320 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


mum essentials necessary to the successful comprehension 
of the units to follow, a second level to be undertaken upon 
the mastery of the minimum essentials, and a third greatly 
enriched level for those superior students completing levels 
one and two is usually provided. The class moves forward 
as a group from unit to unit, pupils working at dif- 
ferent rates within the unit. The measurements used are 
usually of two types: (1) the intelligence test given at the 
beginning of the school year to determine the probable rate 
‘at which the pupil should work; and (2) unit tests given 
upon the completion of each unit. No statistical treatment 
of data is necessary inasmuch as all measurements are 
treated individually. 

Individual instruction. A third method of providing for 
individual differences is individual instruction. Each pupil 
moves forward at his own rate, and the instruction, other 
than that found in the pupils’ handbook of directions, is 
individual. The measures here again are of two kinds: 
(1) the intelligence test; and (2) the practice test. The 
intelligence test is usually given at the beginning of the 
school year to determine probable rates of progress, and the 
daily classroom work is developed on the practice test basis. 
Among the best tests for daily use are: The Studebaker 
Practice Tests in Arithmetic, the Courtis Standard Prac- 
tice Tests in Handwriting, the Courtis Standard Practice 
Tests in Arithmetic, the Branom Practice Tests in Geog- 
raphy, and the Courtis-Smith Picture Story Method in 
Reading. 

The measurement of instructional outcomes. One of 
the first uses to which tests were put was that of evaluating 
the efficiency of instruction. Testing and surveying devel- 
oped almost simultaneously. Many of the early research 
bureaus were established as outgrowths of the survey 
movement. It was hoped that they might conduct through 
the use of tests a kind of continuous survey of the school 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 321 


system. To-day studies of the efficiency of instruction 
may be made either by the superintendent and his staff 
from within, or by a survey staff of experts from without. 
The purpose and procedure is much the same in either case. 

The purpose of survey testing. The measurement of 
classroom products is not an end in itself. The results 
ebtained from such a testing program should throw light 
upon the effectiveness of the curriculum, the management, 
the teaching, the supervision, the organization, the physical ' 
equipment, and the financial outlay. 


It is not merely a measure of results as ends that we want. 
It is from a study of such measures that we are able to draw 
important inferences about other things. If results are good or 
poor, then from such measures we should be able to obtain some 
clue as to the cause. The cause may lie with the child, or it 
may lie with the school, and it may or may not be removable. 
It does little good to say, as a result of measures, that instruc- 
tion is exactly so poor unless we can go further and explain 
whether there is reason to expect better results, and if we ean, 
then to point out the reason why it is poor and show what needs 
to be done to bring it up to standard. It does little good to 
bring to light given amounts of inequality in accomplishment in 
different schools and classes, unless we can trace the cause for 
the inequality back to the nature of the child or to the plan of 
supervision and instruction. It is of little use to count the chil- 
dren with weak eyes, poor hearing, diseased tonsils, and curved 
spines, unless we can show whether or not the school can make 
adjustments in the child’s work and in his management that will 
be of value as a remedial procedure.1? 


Survey tests furnish objective evidence. The super- 
intendent and his staff, if he has one, must keep in touch 
with the results attained within the school system. Monroe 
Baye: + 


17 Jesse B. Sears, The School Survey (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1921), 
pp. 340-41. 

18 W. §S. Monroe, The Theory of Educational Measurements 
(Houghton Mifflin Co., 1923), pp. 263-64. 


322 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


A supervisor must keep in touch with his school system. From 
time to time it is imperative that he make a survey of it. He 
needs to compare the efficiency of his system with that of other 
similar systems. He also needs to be informed of the relative 
efficiency of the units of his own system. Before standardized 
educational tests were available, such surveys were made by a 
personal visitation. Obviously they were subjective. Standard- 
ized objective tests afford a means for making an objective sur- 
vey. ; 

The supervisor diagnoses the school system in much the same 
way that the teacher diagnoses his class. The general procedure 
is not materially different. It has been shown that the most ef- 
fective method of supervising instruction is to ascertain the 
divisions of the school system which are below the desired stand- 
ard of efficiency, and to prescribe definite remedies for unde- 
sirable conditions that are found to exist.19 In this way the 
efforts of a supervisor will be directed toward the meeting of 
specific needs. In the absence of a diagnosis of his school system, 
the supervisor will frequently direct his energies in ways that 
are not profitable. It may be that a reorganization of the system 
is needed. The course of study may be lacking. The teachers 
may need some special training. Whatever the needs are, the 
supervisor will be in a better position to meet them when he is 
acquainted with the conditions that exist. 


Educational tests are not direct measures of efficiency. 
‘‘Hifficiency’’ is a relative term. It expresses a relationship 
between achievement and working conditions. Educational 
tests measure only the total output. They are affected in 
part by the intelligence of the children taught, the physical 
conditions under which teachers and pupils work, the ma- 
terials of instruction with which teachers and pupils must 
work, and the teaching staff. Everything considered, a low — 
score for one building or one school system may represent 
ereater efficiency than a high score in another. The general 
intelligence of the pupils may be measured, and efficiency — 
expressed in terms of the ratio of achievement to intelli- 


19S, A. Courtis, ‘‘Measuring the Efficiency of Supervision in © 
Geography,’’ School and Society, Vol. 10, July 19, 1919, pp. 61-70. — 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 323 


gence.”° But before direct measurements of efficiency can 
be made, similar ratios will need to be developed for other 
factors of achievement. 

Schools or school systems should be judged only in the 
light of conditioning factors. McCall has listed eight fac- 
tors conditioning the achievement of a school system.?? 
Whatever conclusions are drawn concerning the efficiency 
of instruction, one should take into consideration these fac- 
tors. There are, of course, many others. 


. The permanency of the school population 

. The intelligence of the pupils 

The home environment 

. The amount of chronological retardation or acceleration 
. Maturity 

. The transfer of training from one subject to another 

. The distribution of teaching emphasis 

. The length of the school term 


WDNAMEwWNH 


Measuring the efficiency of the teacher. We may meas- 
ure the effectiveness of the teacher either by evaluating the 
instructional process or by measuring the product. The 
final test of efficiency is to be found in the amount and 
quality of service rendered—in the actual output of work. 
On the surface it seems that standard tests would give a 
wholly adequate measure of teaching efficiency. They do 
and they do not. 

In the first place, the teacher is not wholly responsible 
for the changes which occur in pupils. Good or poor results 
may follow from conditions operating in the home, the per- 
sonal health of the pupil, the intelligence levels, etc., the 
quality of teaching being only one of many factors affecting 
the results. Pupil A may have demonstrated unusual 


20 See McCall, op. cit., pp. 36-42, for a discussion of educational 
age, educational quotient, mental age and intelligence quotient, pp. 
149-50 for a discussion of accomplishment quotient. 

21 Ibid., pp. 164-67. 


324 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


mathematical ability because of assistance from an older 
brother. Pupil B may have failed because he was sick and 
could not attend school. The class with which the teacher 
worked may have been either unusually dull or unusually 
intelligent. 

In the second place, standardized tests are not at this 
time available for measuring all of the changes produced. 
Skills and information developed in the tool subjects are 
now measured with a fair degree of success. More recently 
attention has been turned to thought questions, reasoning 
and judgement. But many outcomes are as yet unmeasured. 
Judgment of the teacher’s efficiency must be based upon a 
complete inventory of results. What the test results will 
do is to reveal conditions and the explanation may be sought 
through a careful analysis of all factors affecting pupil 
progress. 

Some fundamental assumptions to be considered in the 
use of tests in measuring the efficiency of teaching. McCall 
after pointing out the dangers of misapplication of tests to 
the measurement of teaching efficiency, lays down certain 
fundamental assumptions to be taken into consideration in 
the use of tests in the measurement of teaching efficiency.?? 


1. The pupil is the center of gravity or sun of the educational 
system. Teachers are satellites of this sun and super- 
visors are moons of the satellites. 

2. All the paraphernalia of education exist for just one pur- 
pose, to make desirable changes in pupils. 

3. The worth of these paraphernalia can be measured in just 
one way by determining how many desirable changes 
they make in pupils. 

4. Hence, the only just basis for selecting and promoting 
teachers is the changes made in pupils. 

5. Teachers are at present selected and promoted primarily 
on the basis of their attributes, such as intelligence, per- 


22From William A. McCall, How to Measure in Education, pp. 
150-53. Reprinted by permission of the Macmillan Co., publishers. 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 325 


sonality, physical appearance, voice, ability in penman- 
ship and the like. 

6. No one has demonstrated just what causal relationship, if 
any, exists between possession of these various attributes 
and desirable changes in pupils. 

7. Scientific measurement itself is fair only when we measure 
the amount of desirable change produced in pupils by 
a given teacher. The measurement of change requires 
both initial and final tests. The plan outlined below 
provides for these. 

8. Scientific measurement is fair only when we measure 
amount of change produced in a standard time. This 
requirement can be satisfied. 

9. Scientific measurement is fair only when we measure the 
amount of change in standard pupils. The Accomplish- 
ment Quotient -is included in the plan below because this 
is a device for converting pupils, no matter what their in- 
telligence, into standard pupils. 

10. Scientific measurement is fair only when the measurement is 
complete. Absolute completeness would require a measure- 
ment of the amount of changes made in children’s pur- 
poses as well as their abilities. Absolute completeness 
is, of course, impossible, and is in fact not necessary; 
partly because a chance sampling of the changes made 
will be thorough enough, and partly because teachers’ 
skill in making desirable changes in, say, reading, is 
probably positively correlated with their skill in making 
desirable changes in, say, arithmetic. 


The use of measurement in teaching. An assumption 
underlying this discussion of the supervisory use of tests 
and measurements is that the supervisor in the use of 
measurement is interested either directly or indirectly in 
the improvement of teaching. He may assist through the 
better classification of pupils, through evaluating the effi- 
ciency of the school system or through the improvement 
of the teacher. What else can the supervisor do to assist 
teachers? Besides these uses of measurement already men- 
tioned, four uses of measurement in teaching will be briefly 
deseribed: (1) the setting of standards; (2) the improve- 


326 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


ment of examinations; (3) the development of study Senet 
tions; and (4) practice tests. 

The setting of standards. What the teacher is to accom- 
plish is set forth in the course of study. It gives the stand- 
ards of accomplishment in terms of subject matter to be 
covered. This subject matter calls for differmg kinds of 
activities on the part of the pupils, but neither the subject 
matter nor the activity itself is the end. The result of the 
activity, the change in the learner, is the educational result 
desired. It is easy to write down the subject-matter re- 
quirements and to justify them in terms of pedagogical and 
psychological theory, but too much reliance in such paper 
requirements makes for formalism. It is also easy in a 
superficial way to determine what activity resulted. The 
exact nature and amount of the activity, however, together 
with its actual result upon the learner, has been neglected. 
Furthermore, pupils differ most materially in their natures 
and in their individual reactions to the same subject matter 
and the same teaching method. These last-named and 
vitally important phases of teaching are coming into their 
own through the use and application of standard tests. 
The results to be obtained are coming to be set down in 
terms of actual standards measurable in mathematically 
precise terms as age and grade scores. Not only are the 
standards being set up, but the derivation of them has 
directed attention more closely to the requirements of real 
life outside the schools. 

Very likely problems involved in determining these stand- 
ards will play but little part in the work of the average 
supervisor, the bulk of the work being done by special in- 
vestigators at universities or departments of educational 
research. The supervisor should be familiar with the re- 
sults obtained by the research experts and either utilize 
them himself or see that they are brought to the attention 
of his teachers. An excellent guide to the sources of litera- 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS O27 


ture dealing with this phase of measurement work will be 
found in the Elementary School Journal for December, 
1917, in an article by Rugg, ‘‘How to Keep in Touch with 
the Quantitative Literature of Education.’’ A good brief 
discussion of the statistics involved will be found in Monroe, 
DeVoss and Kelly, Educational Tests and Measurements, 
pages 273-283. The statistics involved in tabulating and 
interpreting the tests will be given later in this chapter. 

Most of the advance in this field has been made in the 
formal or tool subjects which admit of measurement more 
easily than do the content subjects. The tests available 
are usually equipped with tables showing age and grade 
accomplishment. The establishment of standards is pro- 
ceeding rapidly in the content subjects, and there are al- 
ready many scales of considerable accuracy and value. 

School progress can be motivated through the develop- 
ment of definite pupil objectives. These objectives should 
not only be set for the year, but also for the month and the 
week. An indispensable military device is a battle map 
showing the present status of the contending forces and the 
objectives of the attack. Industrial corporations have used 
the same device in production charts. One might, for 
example, give the Thorndike-McCall Reading Test at the 
beginning of the school year, and give to each pupil his 
initial score. The next step might be to set in consultation 
with each pupil an objective for the year. There are 
enough of the Thorndike-McCall Reading Seales to give one 
each month and to measure progress in the attainment of 
the final objective. Graphical methods may be introduced 
to keep the goals clearly before the pupils.”* 

The improvement of examinations. It has been pointed 
out that the traditional examination has numerous short- 
comings. Much can be done to improve teaching through 





23 Ibid., pp. 143-45. 


328 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


the application of the testing technique to written examina- 
tions. Some of the recommendations made by Monroe for 
the improvement of examination follow: ** 


1. Supply each pupil with a typewritten or mimeographed 
copy of the questions. 

2. Form questions with extreme care, ambiguous questions 

lead to variations in performance. 

3. Give pupils definite instruction concerning the method of 
work to be employed. 

4. The scoring may be made more objective by introducing 

“ves” and “no” questions, true-false statements, comple- 
tion questions, ete. 

5. The objectivity of the marking of examination papers 
may be increased by the use of definite rules for scoring 
papers. 

6. The objectivity of examinations may be increased by 
using questions which permit of only one correct answer. 

7. Weights may be assigned to exercises. The unequal diffi- 
culty of questions is not a serious defect. 

8. The content of the examination should be minimum essen- 
tials and recognized educational objectives. 

9. The examination should be given under timed conditions, 
when the rate of work is a significant educational dimen- 
sion to be measured. 

10. Objective norms may be developed for examinations. 


The development of study directions. There was a time 
when teachers used practically every class period in testing 
pupils. The recitation consisted primarily of an oral quiz 
over the work assigned. With the development of a better 
testing technique, the teacher no longer needs to use every 
recitation as a testing exercise. She may use a test one day 
in ten, or a test at the completion of a unit of work, or indi- 
vidual tests administered as needed. The improvement of 
the testing technique has left more time for teaching. An 
interesting extension of the testing technique has been the 


24 W. 9. Monroe, The Theory of Educational Measurement (Hough- 
ton Mifflin Co., 1923), pp. 277-95. 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 329 


development of written study directions. Nila B. Smith, 
One Hundred Ways of Teaching Silent Reading, contains 
many exercises of this type. Completion exercises, substi- 
tuting words, answering fact questions, answering thought 
questions, fillmg blanks with words, matching headings, 
pairing sentences, selecting best definitions, selecting most 
interesting sentences, finding the main idea in a para- 
graph, true and false games, making word lists, cross-out 
puzzles, mixed-sentence puzzles, opposites puzzles, and 
numerous similar devices are used to make learning and 
teaching more effective. The aim of such exercises is to 
focus the pupil’s attention upon the salient facts to be 
learned. Space will not permit further discussion at this 
point. 

Practice tests. Reference has already been made to the 
use of practice tests in individualizing instruction. Chief 
advantages claimed are (1) that practice tests make indi- 
vidual instruction possible; (2) that practice tests 
strengthen the purpose to improve; (3) that practice tests 
provide a maximum amount of exercise on the part of the 
pupils; and (4) that practice tests facilitate diagnosis and 
remedial teaching. Where the learning is one of association 
forming or the acquisition of a skill, and where the learning 
is largely individual in nature, the practice test can be used 
to good advantage. The Courtis practice tests in reading, 
handwriting, and arithmetic are materials of the type here 
referred to. 

Educational diagnosis. The purpose of supervision is 
to surround the pupil with better learning conditions. One 
of the much-neglected aspects of teaching, and one on which 
the supervisor might well focus his attention, is educational 
diagnosis. Most teachers depend in their teaching upon 
such information concerning individual pupils as they can 
pick up incidentally in class or in private talks with their 

pupils. Most teachers have had little systematic training 


330 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


in the study of their pupils. For some reason there has 
orown up a notion, or rather a tradition about teaching, 
which is to the effect that the teacher must waste no time in 
studying her pupils, but must teach. The practice followed 
by teachers is very much as if the physician should come 
into the sick room and begin to give medicine without look- 
ing at the patient. Most teachers do not take the trouble 
to look at the patient. Should they care to do so they have 
very poor training in diagnostic work. A principal who 
assumes responsibility for a new school or a teacher who 
takes charge of a new class is faced with the necessity of 
making two types of diagnoses: (1) a general diagnosis for 
the school or the class; and (2) a more specific diagnosis 
for the individual pupil. Measurement plays an important 
part in both types of diagnosis. Waples suggests that data 
concerning the class be obtained about the following 
items: 7° 


Useful Data How Obtained 
A. Special learning abilities A. By testing the class in vari- 
1. Ability to select im- ous skills which progress 
portant facts in a in the subject demands. 
typical page of the 1. Give the class a short 
textbook unit of typical ma- 


terial to study for 
several minutes in 
class. Then call for 
written replies to 
about ten definite 
questions based on 
this material and 
varying in difficulty. 
Or give a simple, si- 
lent reading test 
such as Monroe’s. 
This requires five 
minutes. 





25 From Douglas Waples, Procedure in High School Teaching, pp. 
48-51. Reprinted by permission of The Macmillan Co., publishers. 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 331 


Useful Data How Obtained 
2. Ability to remember 2. Repeat the test at in- 


these important 
facts 


3. Ability to understand 


words 


4. Ability to use symbols 


as in foreign lan- 
guage, mathematics, 
science, stenography, 
and other subjects 
to a less extent. 


5. Speed in motor re- 


sponse 


6. Ability to make cor- 


rect inferences from 
data in the given 
subject 


tervals of a few 
days each. 


3. Call for the use and 


definition of any 
graded series of 
words such as is 
shown in the follow- 
ing section. 


4, List a number of im- 


portant symbols 
used in your subject 
opposite their mean- 
ings. Place this key 
on the board. Then 
require the class to 
substitute symbols 
for the equivalent 
words in a list of ex- 
pressions. Record 
accuracy and speed. 


5. Time the class on any 


simple mechanical 
operation such as 
the cancellation test 
referred to below. 


6. Present any group of 


unrelated facts in 
your subject which 
have a definite mean- 
ing when they are 
related. Allow the 
class about five min- 
utes in which to 
write as clearly as 
they can what this 
meaning is. Note 
the differences in 
ability to. discover 
these relationships 
between the facts. 


332 


Useful Data 
7. General mental ability 


8. Other abilities perhaps 
more important in 
connection with your 
special subject 


B. Personal history and previ- 
ous experience with the 
subject matter you teach 


1. Age, rate of promo- 
tion, and previous 
school records in 
your subject and re- 
lated subjects 

2. Pupil’s opinion of for- 
mer teachers in your 
subject 

3. Education of parents 


4, Father’s occupation 


5. Health — serious ill- 
nesses, sight, hear- 
ing, rate of growth, 
ete. 

6. Nationality of parents 

7. Language used at 
home 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


How Obtained 

7. Give some simple in- 
telligence test such 
as the Terman Group 
Test of Mental Abil- 
ity, but regard the 
results merely as 
suggestive in the 
case of individual 
pupils. 

8. By a combination of 
methods suggested 
above or by any 
simple test con- 
structed for the pur- 
pose. 


B. By question-blank, private 
conference, consulting of- 
fice records, and_ talks 
with former teachers. 


1. Consult office records. 


2. Private conference. 


3. Question-blank or pri- 
vate conference. 

4. Question-blank, if tact- 
fully worded. 

5. Observation and pri- 
vate conference 
where necessary. 


6. Question-blank. 
7. Question-blank, 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 333 


Useful Data 

8. Part-time jobs, trav- 
els, ete. 

9. Other items which may 
indicate more di- 
rectly what previous 
contacts the pupil 
may have had with 
your subject matter 
in his home environ- 
ment 


C. Present interests related to 


your subject diagnosed 

by such questions as: 

1. What is your favorite 
type of reading— 
novels, magazine 
stories, magazine ar- 
ticles, or newspa- 
pers? 

2. What is your favorite 
kind of moving pic- 
ture? / 

3. How do you_ spend 
your Saturdays? 

4. What do you intend to 
do when you leave 
high school? What 
sort of work will 
you do for a living? 

5. What sort of work mn 
this subject appeals 
to you most? Which 
of your school sub- 
jects do you like 
best ? 


How Obtained 
8. Question-blank. 


9. A diagnostic test is 
best. If none such 
can be obtained, 
give a short test at 
the outset of the 
course on simple 
facts that the pupils 
might “happen” to 
know. A combina- 
tion of the above 
methods _ should 
cover other items not 
mentioned 


C. By the same general meth- 


ods as in B above. 


1. Question-blank of the 
check-list type. 


2. Question-blank. 


3. Question-blank. 


4, Question-blank or 
check-list. 


5. Question-blank and 
conference. 


3384 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Useful Data How Obtained 

6. Have you ever writ- 6. Question-blank. 
ten a poem out of 
school? Have you 
ever made anything? 

Did it work ? 

7. Other questions more 7. Combination of above 
directly related to methods. 
useful interests as 
expressed in hob- 
bies, games, and out- 
of-school activities. 


In general, there are seven methods by which the work 
of the pupil may be diagnosed: 


1. Introspection or self-study on the part of the pupils. 

2. Observation of the normal, every-day classroom work of the 

pupil. 

3. Have the pupil trace the process orally. Uhl used the oral- 
tracing process in locating difficulties in addition and sub- 
traction.?® 

. Analysis of test results. 

. Secure the developmental history. 

. Contrast the methods of work of good and poor pupils. 

. The complete psychological examination.?* 


“10 Or 


The supervisor should be familiar with each of these. 

Educational and vocational guidance. Over and above 
classroom teaching the school has general responsibility for 
the educational and vocational progress of the pupil. The 
cuidance movement and the response with which it has 
met is evidence of the interest which school people have in 
the general welfare of pupils. Measurement has been 


26 W. L. Uhl, ‘‘The Use of Standardized Materials in Arithmetic 
for Diagnosing Pupils’ Methods of Work,’’ Hlementary School 
Journal, Vol. 18, Nov., 1917, pp. 215-218. 

27 Wm. A. McCall, How to Measure in Education (The Macmillan 
Co., 1922), pp. 88-111. 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 339 


used to secure more exact information: (1) general intelli- 
gence tests—within certain limits there are occupational 
intelligence limits; 7° (2) aptitude tests—each individual 
probably has, within limits, an aptitude for some one occu- 
pation or group of similar occupations which is more 
marked than for any other occupation; (8) vocational in- 
terest test—the purpose of such test is to determine voca- 
tional preference or interests; (4) trade tests—the object 
of these tests is to measure the individual skill for specific 
positions; (5) tests in the tool subjects—tests in reading, 
writing, spelling, and arithmetic are essential to certain 
occupations. 

Research and experimentation. The pursuance of the 
study of education as a science is largely dependent upon 
the development of adequate measuring instruments. The 
physical sciences have made progress only as they have 
been able to refine their instrument of measurement. 
With the refinement of measurement, it is then pos- 
sible to study comparatively all kinds of educational prac- 
tices. Measurement opens the way to an objective study or 
possible solution to such types of questions as, ‘‘ Which of 
two methods is the more effective? Which of two textbooks 
is the more suitable for classroom use? Which of two 
teachers is the more efficient? ete.’’ It will be the purpose 
of the next chapter to discuss somewhat in detail the pro- 
cedure by which the problems of education may be studied 
more exactly. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


1. “Army Mental Test, Methods, Typical Results and Practical 
Applications,” Bulletin, War Department, Nov. 22, 1918, 
Washington, D. C. 


28‘ Army Mental Test, Methods, Typical Results and Practical 
Application,’’ Bulletin, War Department, Nov. 22, 1918 (Washington, 
ED eOeds 


336 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


2. Bossrrt, Franklin, “The Plan of Measuring Educational Eff- 
ciency in City,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 
18, Jan., 1918, pp. 343-56. Use of the unstandardized local 


test. 





, “The Supervision of City Schools,” Twelfth Year- 
book of the National Society for the Study of Education 
(Publie School Publishing Co., 1913). Good early discus- 
sion of the use of tests, pp. 11-50. 

4, Breen, F. §., and Bressuicn, E. R., “Intelligence Tests and 
the Classification of Pupils,” School Review, Vol. 30, Jan. 
and March, 1922, pp. 51-66, 210-26. <A carefully worked- 
out statistical study. Valuable conclusions. 

5. Brooks, 8. 8., “Getting Teachers to Feel the Need for Stand- 
ardized Tests,” Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 1, 
June, 1920, pp. 425-35. Interesting discussion, useful with 
untrained or partially trained teachers. 

, Improving Schools by Standardized Tests (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1922). 

7. BuckInGHAM, B. R., “Suggestions for Procedure Following 
a Testing Programme,” Journal of Educational Research, 
Vol. 2, Dec., 1920, pp. 787-801. Good suggestions. Good 
bibliography included. 

, “Bibliography cf Educational and Psychological Tests 
and Measurements” (compiled by Margaret Doherty and 
Josephine MacLatchy under direction of B. R. Bucking- 
ham), United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 55, 
1923. 

9. Coxvin, S. S., “Recent Results Obtained from the Otis Group 
Intelligence Scale,” Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 
3, Jan., 1921, pp. 1-12. Discusses limitations and flaws of 
the test as well as good points. 

10. Courtis, S. A., “Measuring the Efficiency of Supervision in 
Geography,” School and Society, Vol. 10, July 19, 1919, 
pp. 61-70. 

11. Cupperuey, E. P., The Principal and His School (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1923). Chapters XIX and XXIV have ex- 
cellent bibliographies. References will not be duplicated 
here except in unusual cases. Cubberley’s bibliographies 
should be used to supplement the present list. 

12. DAvinson, Isobel, “A State Programme for Improving In- 
struction in Reading,” Proceedings of the National Educa- 
tion Association, Vol. 61, 1923. 











13. 


14. 


16. 


Ad. 


18. 


19; 


20. 


23. 


24. 


20. 


26. 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 337 


Department of Elementary School Principals, National Edu- 
cation Association, First Yearbook, May, 1922. Chapters 
II to VI contain excellent material upon the use of both 
standardized and unstandardized tests. 

Freeman, F. N., “Sorting the Students,” Hducational Re- 
view, Vol. 68, Nov., 1924, pp. 169-74. A fundamental 
analysis. 

» “Bases on Which Students Can be Classified Effec- 
tively,” School Review, Vol. 29, Dec., 1921, pp. 735-45. 
A thorough analysis. 

Gray, W. 8., “The Work of the Elementary School Princi- 
pal,” Hlementary School Journal, Vol. 19, Sept., 1918, pp. 
23-35. Brief general discussion of use of tests. 

, “The Use of Tests in Improving Instruction,” 

Elementary School Journal, Vol. 19, Oct., 1918, pp. 121-41. 

Good discussion of the diagnostic use of tests. Several 

case studies outlined. 

, “Methods of Improving the Technique of Instruc- 
tion,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, Dec., 1919, pp. 
263-75. 

GreGory, C. A., Fundamentals of Educational Measurement 
with the Elements of Statistical Method (D. Appleton & 
Co., 1922). Clear, practical, nontechnical discussion of 
fundamental principles. 

Harper, May N., “Intelligence Tests as a Basis for Homog- 
enous Grouping,’ Elementary School Journal, Vol. 22, 
June, 1922, pp. 781-82. 











. Hives, Harlan, A Guide to Educational Measurements 


(Houghton Mifflin Co., 1923). 


. Houmes, H. W., School Organization and the Individual 


Child (The David Press, 1912). Good on administrative 
devices. 

“Tnstructions for Giving, Scoring, and Tabulating all General 
Tests,’ Board of Education Bulletin, Detroit, Michigan, 
1923. 

Jacoss, Emilie V., “Some Reactions to Standard Tests,” 
Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 2, Sept., 1922, pp. 
33-35. Good. 

Lewis, E. E., “Scientific School Supervision,’ School Board 
Journal, Vol. 66, Feb., 1923, pp. 43 ff. 

Linpsey, Mary D., and Gamspy, Ruth S., “Where Test 
Scores and Teachers’ Marks Disagree,’ School Review, 


338 


27. 


28. 
Zo: 


39. 


dl. 


32. 


33. 


34, 


35. 


36. 


37. 


38. 


39. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Vol. 29, Nov., 1921, pp. 679-87. Excellent suggestive 
analysis of individual cases. 

McArer, L. O., “The Reliability of Non-Standardized Point 
Tests,” Hlementary School Journal, Vol. 24, April, 1924, 
pp. 579-85. 

McCatt, Wm. A., How to Measure in Education (The Mac- 
millan Co., 1922). A classic in the field. 

Monroz, DEVoss, and KEtuty, Educational Tests and Meas- 
urements (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1917). 

Monrog, W. S., “Improvement of Instruction through Use of 
Educational Tests,” Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 
1, Feb., 1920, pp. 96-102. Good concrete discussion of 
diagnosis., 

, The Theory of Educational Measurements (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1923). 

Morrison, J. Cayce, “The Supervisory Use of Standard Tests 
of Efficiency,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 17, Jan., 
1917, pp. 335-54. Good. 

National Society for the Study of Education, “Classroom 
Problems in the Education of Gifted Children,” Nineteenth 
Yearbook, Part II (Public School Publishing Co., 1920). 

National Society for the Study of Education, “The Measure- 
ment of Educational Products,” Seventeenth Yearbook, 
Part II (Publhe School Publishing Co., 1918). Recent 
summary of entire field, including history, derivation and 
use of tests. 

NEvILtLE, C. E., “Supervision through Simplified Testing,” 
_ Elementary Sonnet Journal, Vol. 25, May, 1925, pp. 696- 
99. Good usable material. 

Park, F. A., “A Grading and Promotional Plan Based on 
Use of Intelligence and Educational Tests,’ Hlementary 
School Journal, Vol. 24, Nov., 1923, pp. 219-20. 

Pautu, E. M., Diagnostic Testing and Remedial Teaching 
(D. C. Heath & Co., 1924). Chapter VI contains concrete 
material on the discovery of weaknesses and in conducting 
remedial teaching. 

PrESSEY, Luella C., “Silent Reading, A First Report on Two 
Diagnostic Tests for Grades II to IV,” Elementary School 
Journal, Vol. 22, Nov., 1921, pp. 204-11. 

Ruae, H. O., “How to Keep in Touch with the Quantitative 
Literature in Education,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 
18, Dec., 1917, pp. 301-10. Summary of sources of in- 





40. 


45. 


47. 


48. 


49. 


50. 


51. 


TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS 339 


formation on tests, measurements, summaries, surveys, ex- 
periments. 

Saam, T., “Intelligence Testing as an Aid in Supervision,” 
Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, Sept., 1919, pp. 
26-32. 


. School Surveys. Practically all of the school surveys con- 


tain excellent material upon the use of tests in evaluating 
instruction. Use the library card catalogue. 


. SEARS, J. B., The School Survey (Houghton Mifflin Co., 


1921). 


. SPENCER, P. L., “The Improvement of Teaching by Means of 


‘Home Made Non-Standardized Diagnostic Tests’ and Reme- 
dial Instruction,” School Review, Vol. 32, April, 1923, pp. 
276-81. Very practical and usable. How to make and use 
diagnostic tests. 


. Stanton, M. W., “Reading Comprehension: An Experiment 


in Supervision,” Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 4, 
Nov., 1924, pp. 113-17. 

SrarcH, Daniel, “The Reliability and Distribution of Grades,” 
Science, Vol. 38, pp. 630-36. 


. StarcH, D., and Exuiorr, HE. C., “Reliability of Grading in 


Mathematics,” School Review, Vol. 21, April, 1913, pp. 
254-59. Also, “Reliability of Grading in History,” Dec., 
1913, pp. 676-81. 

StrRAYER, G. D., and EnarenHarpt, N. L., The Classroom 
Teacher (American Book Co., 1920). Chapter IX con- 
tains a good discussion of tests with many statistics. 

TerMAN, L. M., The Measurement of Intelligence (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1916). Contains Stanford revision of the 
Binet-Simon scale with complete detailed directions for 
giving. 

——-—, The Intelligence of School Children (Houghton 
ton Mifflin Co., 1919). Excellent summary. Detailed data 
on subnormal and accelerated children. 

THORNDIKE, EK. L., “The Nature, Purposes, and General 
Methods of Measurements of Educational Products,” Sev- 
enteenth Yearbook of the National Society. for the Study 
of Education (Public School Publishing Co., 1918). 

TraBur, M. R., Measuring Results in Education (American 
Book Co., 1924). 


. Unt, W. L., “The Use of the Results of Reading Tests as 


Bases for Planning Remedial Measures,” Hlementary 


340 


53. 


54. 


55. 
56. 


57. 


58. 


59. 


60. 


61. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


School Journal, Vol. 17, Dec., 1916, pp. 266, 275. Good 
concrete data. 

Unt, W. L., “The Use of Standardized Materials in Arith- 
metic for Diagnosing Pupils’ Methods of Work,” Hlemen- 
tary School Journal, Vol. 18, Nov., 1917, pp. 215-18. 

Wain, J. E. W., “A Comparison of Three Methods for 
Making the Initial Selection of Presumptive Mental De- 
fectives,’ School and Society, Vol. 13, Jan. 8, 1921, pp. 
31-45. Extensive statistical data. Criticizes several of the 
intelligence tests. 

WAPLES, Douglas, Procedure in High School Teaching (The 
Maemillan Co., 1925). 

Wuipr Le, G. M., Classes for Gifted Children (Puble School 
Publishing Co., 1919). 

Witty, W. E., “Objective Methods in School Supervision,” 
School Board Journal, Vol. 71, Oct., 1925, pp. 55-56. Good 
illustrations of charts and graphs made from test scores. 

Wine, M. H., “Encouragement of Individual Instruction 
by Means of Standard Tests,” Journal of Educational Re- 
search, Vol. 1, March, 1920, pp. 193-98. 

Wituson, G. M., and Hoxe, K. J., How to Measure (The Mac- 
millan Co., 1920). Very simple discussion of use of tests. 

ZirBES, Laura, “Diagnostic Measurement as a Basis for Pro- 
cedure,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 18, March, 1918, 
p. 505. Excellent practical analysis. 

“Attacking the Causes of Reading Deficiency,” 

Teachers College Record, Vol. 26, June, 1925, pp. 856-66. 





CHAPTER X 


THE IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHING THROUGH RESEARCH AND 
EXPERIMENTATION 


We shall consider in this chapter the improvement of 
classroom instruction through the application of scientific 
methods to the study of teaching. That the experimental 
study of teaching is a major function of supervision has 
already been pointed out in an earlier chapter. If super- 
vision is to be permanently effective, it must be scientific. 
Programs for the improvement of teaching must rest upon 
fact rather than upon mere opinion. It will be the purpose 
of this chapter to review briefly the methodology of science. 
The first section of the chapter will contain a descriptive 
discussion of the scientific method, aiming primarily to ex- 
plain what that method is. <A second section will sum- 
marize theory and practice relating to the organization of 
research and experimentation for the improvement of teach- 
ing. 


Tue Screntiric MetHop 


Methods of determining truth. The methods of deter- 
mining truth in any field have, during the ages, passed 
through three stages or phases, authority, speculation, and 
finally experimentation. There is of course continuous 
overlapping and interrelationship, the three methods sup- 
plementing one another at many points. 

The safest and most adequate method is, of course, the 
last, that of experimentation, or the scientific method. 

341 


342 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Speculation occupies a middle ground. Speculation departs 
from authority and may lead in any of three directions. 
First, it may lead far astray, supplying poorer guidance 
than the authority with which it broke. Second, it may ar- 
rive at conclusions which are logical and apparently sound, 
but which for the time cannot be submitted to experimental 
proof. These conclusions may play an important part in 
advancing practice. They constitute truth until upset by 
more plausible ideas, that is, more workable hypotheses, 
or until they are objectively disproved. Third, speculation 
is a most fruitful source of hypotheses which supply prob- 
lems for experimentation. Speculation thus leads into the 
scientific method, and its ‘‘guesses’’ or hypotheses may be 
scientifically verified or discarded. A speculative hypothe- 
sis partially verified becomes a theory. Further specific 
verification may make the theory a law. The law acquires 
authority. Here we are back at authority, but authority 
is now based upon tested knowledge. Mere authority based 
upon opinion or power is the poorest basis for truth. 
Authority based upon scientifically treated data plays an 
essential part in the scheme of things in life and education. 

The development of these methods. Authority is the 
oldest method of determining truth. Problems and ques- 
tions to be decided were referred to an authority of some 
sort. What we call to-day civil and religious authority 
were the first to develop. Religious authority long domi- 
nant in nearly all phases of human endeavor has long since 
lost control of many fields. Civil authority is still domi- 
nant widely. 

Civil authority was first vested in a Man; tribal chief, 
feudal lord, petty king, grand monarch, a delegated repre- 
sentative. Questions were referred to such an authority. 
His word was law. The truth was determined by reference 
to his mandates, edicts, statutes. As written language 
emerged and life became complex the authority of the Man 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION = 348 


was supplemented by another agency, the Book. There 
grew up a codification of custom and law, the Code of 
Hammurabi, the Law of the Medes and Persians, the 
Napoleonic Code, Magna Charta, the Constitution. Truth 
was contained in the Book. Giving ‘‘chapter and verse’’ 
became the accepted method of determining truth. Finally, 
there arose another organ of authority, the Organization. 
Here we have government, simple or complex, which lays 
down the law, that is, determines the truth. Questions are 
settled by reference to the policy of the Organization and 
in terms of its power to enforce its authority. 

Religious authority shows a similar development, being 
successively vested in Man, Book, and Organization. The 
medicine man, the witch doctor, the oracle, the prophet, the 
priest, and the philosopher have all exercised authority and 
determined truth. Sacred Books, or Bibles, are still potent 
authorities and sources of truth for many people. The 
Church is the typical Organization of religious authority, 
comparable to the Government as the civil Organization. 

But very often authority failed to settle a matter satis- 
factorily. The troublesome situation recurred. Problems 
arose with which authority had had no experience. Prob- 
lems arose or recurred so that emphasis was shifted from 
immediate settlement to a search for general truths to cover 
like eases. This deliberation brought forth speculation. 
Questions were no longer matters to be settled; they were 
matters to be discussed. 

As stated above, speculation may and does lead to ex- 
perimentation. As material means, conditions, and insight 
developed, objective try-out under controlled conditions was 
inevitable. Thus developed the third state of determining 
truth by scientific inquiry. 

As time went on and civilization became more complex, 
other fields than the civil and religious were differentiated. 
For example, the fine arts, the sciences, engineering and the 


344 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


trades, and so forth became more or less independent and 
developed their own men, books, and organizations. These 
fields had their own speculative procedures and, finally, 
their own scientific method. Education was one of the 
fields which more recently differentiated itself. Concern- 
ing education Trow says: # 

Education, like these others (applied arts, engineering, the 
trades, fine arts, and so forth) gradually developed a loosely 
organized body of knowledge and more loosely organized body 
of workers. Limited by a paucity of appropriate material as 
furnished by the Book or the Organization of Church or State, 
individual workers sometimes as an integral part of these Organi- 
zations, sometimes working independently, themselves became the 
Men, themselves became the writers of the Books, themselves 
founded Organizations to carry on the work of education. 

Authority, speculation, and scientific method in educa- 
tion. The part played by these things in education is 
apparent to all students in the field. The aim, content, and 
method of education were for many years determined by 
authority from without. Church and State ruled through 
Book and Organization. We have to-day state and parochial 
schools. We had recently the spectacle of a legisla- 
ture, the Organization of Civil Authority, attempting to 
determine the truth of the doctrine of evolution by legis- 
lative enactment. 

Custom and tradition have been prime sources of dogma 
for authority, whether of man, book, or organization. Truth 
was determined by reference to what is. Who has not heard 
a new idea rejected by reference to the authority of custom 
and tradition? ‘‘We have never done it that way.’’ ‘‘We 
have always done it this way.’’ Less directly custom fune- 
tions when one says, ‘‘the idea which is suggested is 
visionary; it will not work’’; ‘‘the suggestion is theore- 


1W. Clark Trow, Scientific Methods in Education (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1925). Contains an excellent and interesting elaboration 
of the ideas here briefly summarized. 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION 345 


tical’’; ‘‘the plan is highly impractieal.’’ One often 
wonders how a certain type of school administrator always 
knows that new ideas are impractical—he never tries any 
of them out to see. 

Custom, of course, has often been a valuable factor. Cus- 
toms are crystallized experience. To the extent that condi- 
tions do not change materially, custom is safe and stabiliz- 
ing. Therein lies the difficulty. Conditions do change and 
the unreflective custom, having acquired authority, be- 
eomes sacred, stands in the way of progress. Custom, good 
or bad, is to be eyed askance to the extent that it is not 
reflective. 

Standing midway between unreflective adherence to eus- 
tom and tradition on the one hand and speculation on the 
other is empiricism. Empiricism figures out ways to do 
things from the trial and error experiences of individuals, 
which become customs with but little more basis in reflection 
than customs whose basis is lost in antiquity. Some customs 
in education which are not very old have already lost their 
origins. Empiricism rests upon something that is at once 
valuable and valueless, namely, experience. How often we 
hear, ‘‘your pedagogical theory may be all right, but my 
experience has been that it will not work.’’ ‘‘I remember 
a teacher who tried the idea, but it would not work.’’ 
‘*Sounds fine but you cannot use it in a real schoolroom.’’ 
With such smugly complacent dicta does the ‘‘experienced’’ 
teacher or administrator turn down the earefully deter- 
mined results of long-continued experimentation and re- 
search. That is, they generalize from a single experience or 
a single uncontrolled instance. With many people, empiri- 
cism of this type overrides experimental results. 

The more hopeful characteristic of empiricism is that it 
often breaks with authority. Contact with ‘‘real situa- 
tions,’’ with ‘‘practical problems’’ drives some minds, not 


to satisfaction with the mediocre devices that result from 


346 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


cut and try, but to an effort to discover far better ways. 
Some individuals, instead of seeing perfection in their 
crudely constructed and so-called ‘‘practical’’ methods, see 
rather the pitiful inadequacy of these things considered in 
the light of the aim of education. These persons are driven to 
revolt. This leads them to speculation and eventually to con- 
trolled try-out instead of incorrect and incomplete tryout. 

Thus we come to the second stage, in which the specula- 
tions of great minds, backed by the authority of personality, 
guide education for good or ill—ill, when it is mere specula- 
tion, mysticism, uncontrolled guessing, temperamental 
rationalization—good, when it is speculation carefully con- 
trolled by the rules of good thinking, giving due regard to 
such crude try-out as may be possible in times when con- 
trolled experimentation is not available. The speculations 
of Herbart, Froebel, and Dewey stand as illustrations of 
fruitful hypotheses in education. 

As outlined earlier in this chapter, speculation leads over 
into experimentation, or experimentation arises independ- 
ently. So it has been in education. Experimentation, sta- 
tistical research, the scientific method entered the educa- 
tional field since the beginning of the present century but 
already tremendous progress has been made. Leadership 
is wholly committed to this method of determining truth. 
Complete understanding has not yet permeated all parts 
of the teaching body, but the process is under way. 

The need for scientific method in education. McCall 2 
points out that American education has now advanced well 
into the second stage; that the third stage is accepted but 
not achieved. Education stands at the crossroads between 
speculation and experimentation. The older notion persists. 
Educational problems are still settled many times through 
argument, discussion, or philosophizing. An illustration 





2Wm. A. McCall, How to Experiment in Education (The Mac- 
millan Co., 1923), pp. 1-2. 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 347 


will make the matter clear. For over half a century there 
has recurred a certain question in the teaching of history: 
‘‘Does it pay to take notes?’’ Argument and discussion 
have been lengthy and voluminous. The discussion is about 
as intelligent as would be a prolonged argument between 
two individuals as to the height of a stone fence come upon 
during an afternoon’s walk. One would hardly expect, 
however, a prolonged argument. The matter could and 
would be settled immediately and finally by getting the 
facts. Whether it pays to take notes is a similar question 
and can be settled in similar manner. 

Within the year a committee of national scope has 
attempted to settle the question of the ideal number 
of pupils to assign to one teacher by asking hundreds of 
experienced teachers to express their opinions. This is an 
example of empirical guessing. The guesses received varied 
widely. The median of these guesses does not agree with 
the results of what little experimentation has been done 
on the problem. Probably one comprehensive, care- 
fully controlled experiment, certainly three or four such 
studies would be worth far more than one thousand em- 
pirical guesses, 

Notwithstanding training in psychology, statistics, and 
measurement, administrators and supervisors will some- 
times slip back into the methods of argument, experience, 
or opinion when confronted with problematic issues. They 
are likely to refer the problem to some experience of twenty 
years ago and proceed accordingly. This is not to be 
wondered at, of course, when it is recalled that scientific 
methods in education date back less than a quarter of a cen- 
tury. The point of view of modern education is one of 
truth-seeking and truth-finding, an attitude which secks 
solutions in the scientific study of educational problems. 
No supervisor of to-day should seriously advocate a pro- 
cedure, or urge changes, without first ascertaining the facts. 


348 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Teachers, principals, and supervisors alike are striving to- 
ward a better understanding of scientific method. As a_ 
result there is a growing mastery over educational tech- 
nique such as has not been experienced before. 

Pearson advocates the application of scientific method to 
social problems. It is a significant statement when it is 
asserted by a leading scientific worker that scientific method 
ean be applied to social as well as physical problems. After 
calling attention to the prejudices of the times, the conflict 
of authorities, and the prevalence of argument, Pearson 
summarizes in a discussion of science and citizenship the 
necessity of applying scientific methods to social problems. 
Incidentally the quotation here given contains an excellent 
brief statement as to what the method is.? 


How is such a judgment—so necessary in our time with its 
hot conflict of individual opinions and its increased responsibility 
for the individual citizen—how is such a judgment to be formed? 
In the first place, it is obvious that it can only be based on a 
clear knowledge of facts, an appreciation of their sequence and 
relative significance. The facts once classified, once understood, 
the judgment based upon them ought to be independent of the 
individual mind which examines them. Is there any other sphere, 
outside that of ideal citizenship, in which there is habitual use of 
this method of classifying facts and forming judgments upon 
them? For if there be, it cannot fail to be suggestive as to 
methods of eliminating individual bias; it ought to be one of 
the best training grounds for citizenship. The classification of 
facts and the formation of absolute judgments upon the basis of 
this classification—judgments independent of the idiosyncrasies 
of the individral mind—essentially sum up the aim and method 
of modern science. The scientific man has above all things to 
strive at self-elimination in his judgments, to provide an argu- 
ment which is as true for each individual mind as for his own. 
The classification of facts, the recognition of their sequence and 
relative significance is the function of science, and the habit of 
forming a judgment upon these facts unbiased by personal feel- 





8 Karl Pearson, The Grammar of Sctence (London, Adam and 
Charles Black, 1911), pp. 6-7. 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 349 


ing is characteristic of what may be termed the scientific frame 
of mind. The scientific method of examining facts is not peculiar 
to one class of phenomena and to one class of workers; it is ap- 
plicable to social as well as to physical problems; and we must 
carefully guard ourselves against supposing that the scientific 
frame of mind is a peculiarity of the professional scientist. 


Thomson’s description of the scientific method. This 
well-known writer has furnished us a brief and simple 
statement : 4 


The aim of the scientific method is to describe the impersonal 
facts of experience in verifiable terms as exactly as possible, as 
simply as possible, and as completely as possible. It is simply 
sincere critical thought, which admits conclusions only when they 
are based on evidence. We may get a good lesson in scientific 
method from a business man meeting some new practical prob- 
lem, from a lawyer sifting evidence, or from a statesman framing 
a constructive bill. 


It is criticized, systematized, and generalized knowledge. That 
is to say, the student of science takes more pains than the man 
in the street does to get at the facts; he is not content with 
sporadic knowledge, but will have as large a body of facts as 
he can get; he systematizes these data and his inferences from 
them, and sums up in a generalization or formula. In all this 
he observes certain logical processes, certain orders of inference, 
and we call this scientific method. 


A summary statement of scientific method. This whole 
difficult matter can be summed up in a very simple state- 
ment. Scientific method consists of two things: seeing and 
formulating problems, and finding verifiable solutions. Ob- 
viously more easily said than done. What are the sub- 
processes, the steps involved in this solving of problems? 
One should not be misled by the written reports of com- 
pleted researches. The final accounts seem to show a series 


_4J. Arthur Thomson, Introduction to Science (Henry Holt & Co., 
OLE te. 00, 


300 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


of steps in which one procedure follows inevitably after 
another. Little is said about the many side trips taken, the 
numerous blind alleys into which the research strayed, the 
heartbreaking mistakes laboriously detected and corrected, 
the copious use of trial and error. The scientific method 
does not follow a series of steps. It is, however, most em- 
phatically an orderly procedure. Speaking epigram- 
matically, one may say that the disorder which creeps in 
must be handled in an orderly manner. The mistakes must 
be disposed of in a systematic and thorough manner or they 
will recur. 

For purposes of discussion we must, however, make some 
arbitrary division into steps, or phases. These phases are 
not consecutive. They are interwoven most intimately. 
There are several acceptable outlines varying but slightly 
in detail. The following is but one of many. Scientific 
method involves: 


. Seeing and formulating problems clearly 

. Gathering data—measurement, observation, experiment 

. Arranging and classifying data—tables, curves, graphs, ete. 
. Formulating hypotheses or conclusions 

. Verifying these conclusions. Observation or experiment 

. Formulating laws, rules, theories 


OOF Whe 


Sometimes hypotheses spring into the mind immediately 
the problem is apprehended. This guides the search for 
data. At other times the worker strives deliberately to 
prevent the formulation of an hypothesis until considerable 
data have been gathered. 

The process, whatever its order, must be characterized 
by two attitudes; the absence of personal bias, and the sus- 
pension of judgment. In regard to the first, Pearson was 
quoted above, ‘‘The scientific man has above all things to 
strive at self-elimination in his judgments, to provide an 
argument which is as true for each individual mind as for 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 351 


his own.’’ Dewey in his discussion of reflective thought 
Says:° 


Reflective thought, in short, means judgment suspended during 
further inquiry.... 

To maintain the state of doubt and to carry on systematic and 
protracted inquiry—these are the essentials of thinking. 


Defining and formulating the problem. People manifest 
ereat individual differences in seeing and clearly defining 
problems. Some complacent individuals never see difficul- 
ties or problems. Another group feel vaguely that some- 
thing is wrong, that something needs to be done but they 
cannot isolate the specific difficulty—cannot locate the prob- 
lem. Lastly there is the keen analytic type of mind that 
sees clearly and defines sharply. 

Of those who can actually see the problems, McCall ® 
distinguishes three types of formulators. The first he says 
‘‘flutters in all directions and flies in none.’’ His formula- 
tions are so broad to be scarcely less wide than the uni- 
verse. Obviously details cannot be planned, nor a working 
procedure be outlined until the problem is narrowed down. 
The second type McCall calls the ‘‘pot-hole type.’’ His is 
the opposite error. He defines, but so narrowly that his 
problems are isolated. He cannot relate his minute findings 
to the larger implications. The third is the scholarly indi- 
vidual who sees both his major problem and the minute 
minor researches which must be worked out first. 

An indispensable part of formulating the problem is the 
formulation of a method of procedure, a working plan. 
We may quote McCall:? 


5 John Dewey, How We Think (D. C. Heath & Co., 1910), p. 13. 

6 Wm. A. McCall, How to Experiment in Education (The Macmillan 
Co., 1923), pp. 9-10. 
. tIbid., p. 6. Reprinted by permission of the Macmillan Co., pub- 
lishers. 


352 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


An experimenter ought to think through his experiment from 
the conception of the problem to the conclusions and beyond. If 
he has six months to devote to an experiment he can, with ad- 
vantage spend five months in planning the experiment and one 
month in conducting it. Ideally an experimenter should not 
start his experiment until he has gone through mentally at least 
every step even down to the smallest statistical detail. Those 
who do not possess a vivid imagination can advantageously carry 
a miniature experiment with hypothetical data through the vari- 
ous tabulation and statistical stages. 

The importance of adequate planning cannot be easily exag- 
gerated. 


The collection of data. The next important phase of 
the scientific study of teaching problems is the gathering 
of data. This recording of facts implies observation, ex- 
perrmentation, and measurement. The latter needs no 
elaboration at this point. 

Observation. Educational conditions must be systemat- 
ically observed according to some definite and adequate 
plan of procedure. Numerous and accurate observations 
are necessary. Observations must be recorded in carefully 
defined terms, definite statements, or objective measure- 
ments. An excellent statement is found in Thomson’s 
Introduction to Science: § 


The fundamental virtues are clearness, precision, impartiality, 
and caution. Common vices are rough and ready records, re- 
liance on vague impressions, acceptance of second hand evidence, 
and picking the facts to suit. Since observers are fallible mor- 
tals, we readily understand the importance of codperation, of inde- 
pendent observations on the same subject, of instrumental means ® 
of increasing the range and delicacy of our senses, and of auto- 
matic impersonal methods of registration such as photography 
supplies. 


8 J. Arthur Thomson, op. cit., p. 63. 

9 An excellent discussion of instruments of precision, too long to 
quote here is to be found in W. C. Trow, Scientific Method in 
Education (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1925), Chap. iv. 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 353 


Observation is an everyday process. It seems simple. 
The average individual resents the charge that he is not 
observant. Good observation is, however, a difficult affair. 
To have seen an event does not guarantee at all that the 
observer knows what happened. Westaway sums up briefly 
two of the chief obstacles to accurate observational re- 
port »7° 


But even with the closest attention, our observations may be 
entirely incorrect. Any one of our organs of sense is easily 
deceived, a fact which enables the magician to make his living. 
Then it is seldom that we see the whole of any event that occurs: 
a cab and a bicycle collide, and half a dozen “‘witnesses” all per- 
fectly honest may—probably will—give accounts which differ 
materially and may be mutually destructive. It is always difficult 
to keep fact and inference distinctly apart. In the middle of 
the night we “hear a dog bark in the street.” But really all that 
we hear is a noise; that the noise may come from a dog, and that 
the dog is in the street, are inferences, and the inferences may 
be wrong. For instance, a boy may be imitating a dog; and 
everybody knows how easily the ear is deceived in regard to the 
direction of sound. It is almost impossible to separate what we 
perceive from what we infer; and we certainly cannot obtain 
a sure basis of facts by rejecting all inferences and judgments 
of our own, for in all facts such inferences and judgments form 
an unavoidable element. Even when we seem to see a solid body 
occupying, as it does, space in all dimensions, we really see only 
a perspective representation of it, as it appears depicted on a 
surface. Our knowledge of its solid form is obtained by infer- 
ence. A clever painter may deceive us even here. 


Few facts of psychology need to be stressed more than 
those concerning the inaccuracy of observation reports. A 
common ‘‘stunt’’ in college classes studying psychology is 
tc enact a brief series of events before the class, requiring 
immediately afterward a complete written account of what 
happened. None of the accounts ever agree in all details. 


. 10F, W. Westaway, Scientific Method: Its Philosophy and Prac- 
tice (London, Blackie & Son Ltd., 1919, 3d ed.), p. 195. 


394 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Important events bulking large in the little drama will be 
missing from many accounts. Other events which did not 
cecur at all will be sworn to by several observers. Flatly 
contradictory statements appear between papers, and some- 
times even in the same paper. The senses are deceived; we 
are not able to separate facts from thoughts about facts. 
We constantly hear the remark, ‘‘I know it is the truth, I 
saw it with my own eyes!’’ Such a statement is no guar- 
antee whatever that the account is a true one. 

Many teachers resent the idea that an outside observer 
can analyze events in their classrooms more accurately than 
they can themselves. But this is quite possible if the ob- 
server is highly trained and the teacher is not. It is inter- 
esting to watch the reactions of a group of experienced but 
untrained teachers to a demonstration lesson. The list of 
points which they wish to discuss or ask about is soon ex- 
hausted. The expert then takes charge of the discussion. 
Astonishment and bewilderment appear on many faces as 
fact after fact is brought to light, and as shade, nuance, 
and subtlety of teaching are pointed out which were not 
even observed in the large by the untrained observers. 
These teachers are perhaps all earnest workers, experienced 
but untrained in observation. On the other hand, of course, 
many teachers of experience and careful habit of mind are 
good observers and their reports are largely reliable. For 
purposes of scientific study, however, careful training in 
observation under controlled conditions is necessary. 

Experimentation. It is not always possible to determine 
by observation alone what conditions are operative. The 
purpose of experimentation is to assist in the collection of 
facts. The object of an experiment is to get one or more 
conditions under control. We experiment to isolate and 
examine singly the several contributory conditions. We ar- 
range for purposes of observation that a certain thing shall 
happen under certain controlled conditions. A funda- 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 355 


mental rujie in experimentation is to vary only one circum- 
stance at a time, and to maintain all other circumstances 
rigidly unchanged. 

The distinction between observation and experiment. J. 
Arthur Thomson* sets forth clearly the distinction be- 
tween observation and experiment. 


The distinction between observation and experiment is not of 
much importance. In the former we study the natural course 
of events; in the latter we arrange artificially for certain things 
to occur. The method of experiment saves time and we can make 
surer of the conditions. In studying the effect of electric dis- 
charges on living plants, it would be worse than tedious to wait 
for the lightning to strike trees in our vicinity, so we mimic 
the natural phenomena in the laboratory. In studying phe- 
nomena like hybridization, we are obviously on much surer ground 
with experiment than with observation in natural conditions. 

Alterations in the conditions of occurrence which it might be 
difficult or impossible to arrange in Nature can be readily effected 
in the laboratory. It is thus possible to discover which of the 
antecedents are causally important. Cattle begin to die of some 
mysterious epidemic disease; bacteria are found to be abundant 
in the dead bodies; it is conjectured that the disease is bacterial. 
Some of the bacteria are peculiar, and it is observed that they 
occur in all the victims. The hypothesis is made that this par- 
ticular species of bacterium is responsible for the disease. But 
since the epoch-making experiments of Koch which showed that 
Bacillus anthracis is the cause of anthrax (splenic fever, or 
wool-sorter’s disease in man), no one dreams of stopping short 
of the experimental test. The suspected bacillus is isolated, a 
pure culture is made, this is injected into a healthy animal, and 
if the disease ensues the proof is complete. 


Of course experimentation is not always possible. We 
must then rely upon carefully controlled observation. 

Wells on the production of dew: a classic expervment. 
Wells (1757-1818) conducted a series of experiments on the 
production of dew. The success of the investigation de- 





11 J. Arthur Thomson, Introduction to Science (Henry Holt & Co., 
1911), pp. 69-70. 


356 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


pended largely upon the very careful use of the method of 
agreement and the method of difference (later explained), 
combined with the systematic variation of the cirecum- 
stances. Wells’s description of the experiment which fol- 
lows }2 is extremely valuable to workers in any scientific 
field, and will bear reading several times. 


I now proceed to relate the influence which several differences 
in the situation have upon the production of dew. 

One general fact relative to situation is, that whatever dimin- 
ishes the view of the sky, as seen from the exposed body, occa- 
sions the quantity of dew, which is formed upon it, to be less 
than would have occurred if the exposure to the sky had been 
complete. 

Experiment with elevated board.—I placed, on several clear 
and still nights, 10 grains of wool upon the middle of a painted 
board, 44% feet long, 2 feet wide, and 1 inch thick, elevated 4 
feet above the grass-plat, by means of four slender wooden props 
of equal height; and, at the same time I attached, loosely, 10 
grains of wool to the middle of its under side. The two parcels 
were, consequently, only an inch asunder, and were equally ex- 
posed to the action of the air. Upon one night, however, I found 
that the upper parcel had gained 14 grains in weight, but the 
lower only 4. On a second night the quantities of moisture, ac- 
quired by like parcels of wool, in the same situation as in the 
first experiment, were 19 and 6 grains; on a third, 11 and 2, on 
a fourth, 20 and 4; the smaller quantity being always that which 
was gained by the wool attached to the lower side of the board. 

Experiment with bent pasteboard.—I bent a sheet of paste- 
board into the shape of a house roof, making the angle of flexure 
90 degrees, and leaving both ends open. This was placed one 
evening, with its ridge uppermost, upon the same grass plat, in 
the direction of the wind, as well as this could be ascertained. I 
then laid 10 grains of wool on the middle of that part of the 
grass which was sheltered by the roof, and the same quantity on 
another part of the grass-plat fully exposed to the sky. In the 
morning the sheltered wool was found to have increased in weight 
only 2 grains, but that which had been exposed to the sky, 16 
grains. 


KKK 


12, W. Westaway, op. cit., pp. 317-21. 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 357 


In these experiments, the view of the sky was almost entirely 
cut off from the situations in which little dew was formed. In 
others, where it was less so, the quantity gained was greater. 
Thus, 10 grains of wool, placed upon the spot of the grass-plat 
which was directly under the middle of the raised board, and 
which enjoyed, therefore, a considerable oblique view of the sky, 
acquired during one night 7, during a second 9, and during a 
third 12 grains of moisture, while the quantities gained, during 
the same times by equal parcels of wool, laid upon another part 
of the grass-plat, which was entirely exposed to the heavens, 
were 10, 16, and 20 grains. 

As no moisture, falling like rain from the atmosphere, could, 
on a calm night, have reached the wool in any of the situations, 
where little dew was formed, it may be thought that the board 
and the pasteboard under which the wool was placed, prevented, 
mechanically, the access of that fluid. But on this supposition 
it cannot be explained why some dew was always found in the 
most sheltered places, and why a considerable quantity occurred 
upon the grass under the middle of the raised board. A still 
stronger proof of the want of justness in this supposition is 
afforded by the following experiment: 

Experiment with hollow ecylinder.—I placed, upright, on the 
grass-plat, a hollow eylinder of baked clay, the height of which 
was 214 feet, and diameter 1 foot. On the grass, surrounded by 
the cylinder, were laid 10 grains of wool, which, in this situa- 
tion, as there was not the least wind, would have received as 
much rain as a like quantity of wool fully exposed to the sky. 
But the quantity of moisture obtained by the wool surrounded by 
the cylinder, was only a little more than 2 grains, while that 
acquired by 10 grains of fully exposed wool was 16. This oc- 
curred on the night during which the wool under the bent paste- 
board gained only 2 grains of moisture. 

Other varieties of situation——Dew, however, will, in conse- 
quence of other varieties of situation, form in very different 
quantities, upon substances of the same kind, although these 
should be similarly exposed to the sky. 

(1) In the first place; it is requisite, for the most abundant 
formation of dew, that the substance attracting it should rest 
on a stable horizontal body of some extent. Thus, upon one 
night, while 10 grains of wool, laid upon the raised board, in- 
creased 20 grains in weizht, an equal quantity, suspended in the 
open air 51% feet above the ground, increased only 11 grains, not- 


308 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


withstanding that it presented a greater surface to the air than 
the other parcel. On another night, 10 grains of wool gained 
on the raised board 19 grains, but the same quantity suspended 
in the air, on_a level with the board, only 13; and on a third, 10 
grains of wool acquired, on the same board 2'% grains of weight, 
during the time in which other 10 grains, hung in the air, at 
the same height, acquired only half a grain. 

(2) In the second place, the quantities of dew attracted by 
equal masses of wool, similarly exposed to the sky, and resting 
on equally stable and extended bodies, oftentimes vary consid- 
erably, in consequence of some difference in the other cireum- 
stances of these bodies. Ten grains of wool, for instance, having 
been placed (a) on the grass-plat, on a dewy evening; 10 grains 
upon (b) the gravel walk which bounded the grass-plat; and 
10 grains upon (c) a bed of bare garden mould, immediately 
adjoining the gravel walk; in the morning the wool on the grass 
was found to have increased 16 grains in weight, but that on the 
gravel walk only 9, and that on the garden mould only 8. On 
another night, during the time that 10 grains of wool laid upon 
grass, acquired 24% grains of moisture, the same quantity gained 
only half a grain upon the bed of garden mould, and a like 
quantity, placed upon the gravel walk, received no accession of 
weight, whatever. 

Two objections will probably be made against the accuracy 
of these, as well as my other experiments with wool. (a) One 
is that wool placed on grass may, by a kind of capillary attrac- 
tion, receive dew previously formed on the grass, in addition to 
its own. To this I answer, that wool in a china saucer, placed 
on the grass, acquired very nearly as much weight as an equal 
parcel immediately touching the grass. (b) The second ob- 
jection is, that a part of the increased weight in the wool might 
arise from its imbibing moisture, as a hygroscopic substance. I 
do not deny that some weight was given to the wool in this way; 
but it may be safely affirmed that this quantity must have been 
very small. For, on very cloudy nights, apparently best fitted 
to inerease the weight of hygroscopic substances, wool upon the 
raised board would, in the course of many hours, acquire little 
or no weight; and in London I have never found 10 grains of 
wool, exposed to the air on the outside of one of my chamber 
windows, to increase, during a whole night, more than a half a 
grain in weight. When this weight was gained, the weather was 
clear and still; if the weather was cloudy and windy, the wool re- 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION 399 


ceived either less or no weight. This window is so situated as to 
be, in great measure, deprived of the aspect of the sky. 

It being shown that wool, though highly attractive to dew, was 
prevented, by the mere vicinity of a gravel walk, or a bed of 
garden mould, for only a small part of it actually touched those 
bodies, from acquiring nearly as much dew, as an equal parcel 
laid upon grass, it may be readily inferred, that little was formed 
upon themselves. In confirmation of this conclusion, I shall men- 
tion, that I never saw dew on either of them. Another fact of 
the same kind is that, while returning to London from the scene 
of my experiments about sunrise, I never observed, if the at- 
mosphere was clear, the public road, or any stone pavement on 
the side of it to be moistened with dew, though grass within a 
few feet of it, and painted doors and windows of houses not 
far from it, were frequently very wet. If, indeed, there was 
a foggy morning after a clear and calm night, even the streets 
of London would sometimes be moist, though they had been dry 
the day before, and no rain had in the meanwhile fallen. This 
entire, or almost entire, freedom of certain situations from dew 
depends, however, much more upon extraneous circumstances, 
than upon the nature of the substances found there; for river- 
sand, though of the same nature as gravel, when placed upon the 
raised board or upon grass, attracted dew copiously. 

(3) A third difference, from situation, in the quantity of dew 
collected by similar bodies, similarly exposed to the sky, depends 
upon their position with respect to the ground. Thus, a sub- 
stanee placed several feet above the ground, though in this situ- 
ation later dewed, than if it touched the earth, would, notwith- 
standing, if it lay upon a stable body of some extent such as 
the raised board lately mentioned, acquire more dew during a 
very still night, than a similar substance lying on grass. 

(4) A fourth difference of this kind occurred among bodies 
placed on different parts of the same board. For one, that was 
placed at the leeward end of it, generally acquired more dew than 
a similar body at the windward extremity. 


Mill’s canons, As an aid to the isolation of antecedent 
circumstances, Mill formulated two general rules of pro- 
cedure, one known as the method of agreement, and another 
known as the method of differences. These two methods 
form the bases for Mill’s third, fourth, and fifth canons, the 


360 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


joint method, the method of residues, and the method of 
concomitant variations. These rules are as follows: 


If two or more instances of the phenomenon under investiga- 
tion have only one circumstance in common, that circumstance 
may be regarded as the probable cause (or effect) of the phe- 
nomenon (the method of agreement) ; if an’ instance in which the 
phenomenon under investigation occurs, and an instance in which 
it does not occur, have every circumstance in common save one, 
that one occurring only in the former; the circumstance in which 
alone the two instances differ is the effect, or the cause, or an 
indispensable part of the cause of the phenomenon (the Herhod 
of differences). 


The method here described was used successfully by 
Thorndike, Haggerty, Henmon, and others in the discovery 
of special abilities and disabilities of different occupational 
croups. The tests for aviators, for example, were developed 
from a comparison of a group of extremely successful indi- 
viduals with another group of extremely unsuccessful indi- 
viduals. By this method, conclusions were reached con- 
eerning the essential characteristics of aviators. ‘‘All 
scientific investigation is, at bottom, the seeking of points of 
agreement and points of difference.’’ 

Analysis and classification of data. In many eases the 
eollection of data is a simpler process than the development 
of productive classifications. There is an infinite number 
of points of view from which facts may be arranged. The 
arrangement should not grow out of some incidental char- 
acteristic of the data, but out of fundamental relationship 
likely to produce results. One might, for example, classify 
a library according to the size of books, the color of the 
books, or the weight of the books. But such classifications 
would not be productive. Bain,?* in setting forth what con- 
stitutes a good classification, gives the following rule: 


13 Alexander Bain, Logic: Deductive and Inductive (D. Appleton & 
Co., 1880), p. 185. 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION 361 


‘“Place together in classes the things that possess in com- 
-mon the greatest number of attributes.’’ 

The use of statistical devices—frequency tables, curves, 
graphs, and the like, are not ends in themselves but means 
to ends. They should bring out likeness, differences, proc- 
esses, causes, and results not otherwise observable. 

Westaway, on the analysis of phenomena."* 


If, then, such erroneous associations remain unsuspected, and 
we proceed to reason from the underlying “facts,” our reasoning 
will probably be fallacious. The necessity for disentangling our 
facts thus becomes evident. It has been well said that progress 
in scientific investigation depends much more on that severe and 
discriminating judgment which enables us to separate ideas that 
nature or habit has closely combined, than on acuteness of rea- 
soning or fertility of invention. Whenever two subjects of 
thought are intimately connected in the mind, it requires the most 
determined effort of attention to conduct any process of reason- 
ing which relates to only one. 

Since one of the main objects of Science is to ascertain the 
laws which regulate the succession of events in nature, the in- 
vestigator has constantly to deal with different events presented 
to him nearly at the same time, and he has therefore to be par- 
ticularly careful that phenomena closely connected in time do 
not mislead him into thinking that they are necessarily invariably 
conjoined. The disposition to confound together accidental and 
permanent connections is one great source of popular supersti- 
tions,—palmistry, phrenology, planetary influence, haunted 
houses, miraculous wells, unlucky days, and so on. Such com- 
binations are confined, in great measure, to uncultivated and un- 
enlightened minds, but there are other accidental combinations 
which are apt to lay hold of the minds of even the very ablest of 
investigators. 

We have already seen that when a phenomenon is preceded by 
a number of different circumstances, we cannot determine, by any 
4 priori reasoning, which of these circumstances are to be regarded 
as the constant, and which the accidental, antecedents of the 
effect. If, in the course of our experience, the same combination 
of circumstances is always exhibited to us without any alteration, 


14}, W. Westaway, op. cit., pp. 225-26. 


362 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


and is invariably followed by the same result, we must neces- 
sarily remain ignorant whether the result be connected with the 
whole combination or with only one or a few of the circumstances 
combined; and therefore, if at any time we wish to produce a 
similar effect, there is no alternative but to imitate in every par- 
ticular circumstance the combination which we have seen. 

Let us suppose, for instance, that a savage who, on some occa- 
sion had found himself relieved of some bodily ailment by a 
draught of cold water, is a second time afflicted with a similar 
disorder and is desirous of repeating the same remedy. With 
the limited degree of knowledge and experience which we have 
here supposed him to possess, it would be impossible for the 
greatest of modern investigators, in his situation, to determine 
whether the cure was due to the water which was drunk, to the 
cup in which it was contained, to the fountain from which it was 
taken, to the particular day of the month, or to the particular 
age of the moon. In order, therefore, to ensure the success of 
the remedy, the savage will, very naturally and very wisely, copy 
as far as he can recollect, every circumstance which accompanied 
the first application of it. He will make use of the same cup, 
draw the water from the same fountain, hold his body in the 
same position, and turn his face in the same direction; and thus 
all the accidental circumstances in which the first experiment was 
made, will come to be associated equally in his mind with the 
effect produced. The fountain from which the water was drawn 
will be considered as possessed of particular virtues, and the 
eup from which it was drunk will be set apart for exclusive use 
on all future similar occasions. 


Hypothesis. An hypothesis is any supposition which 
we may make in accordance with the known facts. <As 
pointed out earlier in the chapter, an hypothesis will spring 
into mind upon presentation of the problem and before any 
facts have been gathered. <A better procedure is to exercise 
suspended judgment until enough facts have been gathered. 
to suggest hypotheses which are more likely to bear upon 
the problem. 


We mean by a scientific hypothesis a provisional formulation, 
a tentative solution, and it is part of the scientific method to 
make them and test them. While there seems to be no doubt that’ 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 363 


some scientific conclusions have arisen in the mind of the investi- 
gator as if by a flash of insight, in the majority of cases the 
process of discovery is a slower one. The scientific imagination 
devises a possible solution—an hypothesis—and the investigator 
proceeds to test it. He makes intellectual keys and then tries 
whether they fit the lock. If the hypothesis does not fit, it is 
rejected and another is made. The scientific workshop is full 
of discarded keys. 

It need hardly be said that whether the hypothesis is reached 
imaginatively or laboriously, whether it is suggested by induction 
from many particulars or as a deduction from some previously 
established conclusion, it has to be tried and tested until it rises 
to the rank of a theory,? 


Jevons has set forth three characteristics of a good 
hypothesis: 1° 


1. A good hypothesis must allow of the application of de- 
ductive reasoning and the inference of consequences capable of 
comparison with the results of observation. 

2. A good hypothesis must not conflict with any laws of nature 
which we hold to be true. 

3. In a good hypothesis, the consequences inferred must agree 
with facts of observation. 


Verification and experimental testing. It is often neces- 
sary to try more than one hypothesis. The test of a given 
hypothesis rests in its predictive value. Much of the suc- 
cess of a scientific worker often depends upon his ingenuity 
in thinking out crucial or test experiments. Generalization 
may be verified by controlled experiments, by repetition of 
experiments, or by gathering additional data. The data 
may be also re-examined and appraised by the application 
of numerous statistical procedures. Possible sources of 


15 J, Arthur Thomson, An Introduction to Science (Henry Holt 
& Co., 1911), pp. 68-69. 

16 From W.S. Jevons, Principles of Science, pp. 510-13. Reprinted 

by permission of the Macmillan Co., publishers. 


364 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


error in method, materials, and apparatus should be eare- 
fully scrutinized. The scientist tries to achieve complete- 
ness of investigation, accuracy of statement, and the elimi- 
nation of intellectual and emotional bias. Thomson gives 
three examples of how scientists have verified their tentative 
formulations: 17 


When bacteriology was still in its infaney, and Pasteur was 
still fighting for his discovery that putrefaction was due to the 
life of microorganisms in the rotting substance, he put his theory 
to a crucial test which is continually repeated now-a-days as a 
class experiment or for practical purposes in the preservation of 
various foods. He took some readily putrescible substances, 
sterilized them by boiling, and hermetically sealed the vessel. No 
putrefaction occurred. 

When Von Siebold and his fellow-workers had convinced them- 
selves indirectly that certain bladderworms, for example, those 
which occur in the pig and the ox, were the young stages of 
certain tapeworms which oceur in man, they made the crucial 
and almost heroic experiment of swallowing the bladderworms. 
By becoming soon afterwards infected with the tapeworms they 
proved the truth of their theory. 

Or let us take a simple case where the method of exclusion is 
combined with a control experiment. The fresh-water crayfish 
has a sense of smell, as is proved by the rapid way in which it 
retreats from strong odors. Investigation led to the hypothesis 
that this sense was located in the antennules or smaller feelers. 
This was verified by observing that a crayfish bereft of these 
appendages did not react to a strong odor, whereas—here the 
control experiment comes in—in exactly the same conditions and 
to the same stimulus another crayfish with its antennules intact 
did actively respond. Pursuing precisely the same two methods, 
the investigator proved that the seat of smell was in peculiarly 
shaped bristles on the outer fork of the antennules. 


Formulation. The final step in scientific method is the 
summing up into a formula, sets of statements, or new 


a 


17 J, Arthur Thomson, Introduction to Science (Henry Holt & 
Co., 1911), pp. 71-72. 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 365 


theory as concisely as possible the facts observed. The for- 
mulation must conform to the facts and must be verifiable. 
The work of the scientific student of education should be 
characterized throughout by a passion for facts, by cau- 
tiousness of statement, and a clearness of vision. 

It may be objected that the illustrations of various phases 
of scientific method given above are from fields other than 
education. Illustrations from the physical sciences were 
selected for two reasons. First, scientific method in the 
physical sciences is much older than it is in education, and 
as a consequence much better illustrations of the general 
procedure of science are available. While many excellent 
illustrations can be found in education, despite the short 
time the method has been used in that field, those of the 
physical sciences represent a maturity characteristic of an 
older science. 

In the second place many of the illustrations from the 
physical sciences are classics, known generally to scientific 
workers. They require no elaborate explanations. They 
should be equally well known to scientific students of edu- 
cation. It is to be hoped that, in the near future, illustra- 
tions from education will be equally well known. A few 
educational experiments have already become famous and 
are recognized as standards of procedure. Some of these 
studies are referred to later in this chapter and in Chap- 
ter XV. 

Some applications of the scientific method to education. 
Space will not permit an adequate description of the sev- 
eral variations of the scientific method as applied to the 
field of education. The discussions to follow:-must, there- 
fore, be abbreviated and at times theoretical. The five 
methods generally known to scientific students of education 
are: (1) the statistical, (2) the group-experimental, (3) 
the laboratory method, (4) the historical, and (5) the 
genetic. 


366 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Other terminologies are often used. For instance McCall 
classified methods as descriptive, experimental, and causal. 

The statistical method. The statistical method, as con- 
trasted with the laboratory method, is a mass or group 
method of arriving at educational facts. The number of 
eases studied is always an important item. Its studies may 
be of three types, descriptive, causal, or comparative. 
Studies of the first type aim to describe present conditions 
(status) as accurately and objectively and quantitatively 
as possible. Studies of the second type through the applica- 
tion of proper statistical procedures aim to explain the 
causes of circumstances as they now prevail. Studies of 
the third type aim to compare the status of things or con- 
ditions in one school system, or under one set of conditions 
with that of another school system or set of conditions. The 
school survey is a typical study‘of the third type. The 
terminology of the statistical method is that of ‘‘averages,’’ 
‘“deviations,’’ ‘‘correlations,’’? and so forth. It aims through 
the systematic observation of educational conditions and 
through the painstaking collection of facts to arrive at 
fundamental principles. It starts with extremely variable 
data, the various items of which are apparently unrelated 
and reduces these by a system of classification and grouping 
to generalizations. The statistical method involves the col- 
lection of educational facts, the tabulation of data, fre- 
quency distributions, measures of central tendencies, meas- 
ures of variability, and measures of relationship, and such 
other technique as found in any one of the standard text- 
books in the statistical method. 

Rankin, summarizes the peculiar contribution of the sta- 
tistical method as follows: 78 


The statistical method, like other forms of scientific method, 


18 Paul T. Rankin, ‘‘The Statistical Method,’’ The Detroit Journal 
of Education, Feb., 1923, Vol. 3, p. 262. 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 367 


has one primary purpose—to aid in the search for truth, with a 
view to its use in the determination of subsequent action. The 
method is never an end in itself; it is but a device. Stripped to 
its barest fundamentals, the statistical method is the method of 
arraying numerical data in a form which makes possible the 
perception of essential relations between essential elements. Un- 
organized numerical data are ordinarily confusing and are diffi- 
cult of interpretation. Organization, arrangement, and adjust- 
ment are necessary in order that significant factors may be rec- 
ognized. 

It is ever the function of the method of science to identify 
and to evaluate the effects of the several variables involved. In 
physical science this may often be done by holding constant all va- 
riables save one and measuring that one. In biological science the 
problem is more difficult by reason of the fact that only moderate 
control can be exercised over the several variables concerned. 
Still more difficult of solution is the problem in the social sci- 
ences and in education. In these sciences many different factors 
are contributory to a given situation, and for the most part these 
factors are beyond the control of the investigator. As a conse- 
quence the experimenter must obtain measures under various com- 
binations of conditions, and then devise means for evaluating the 
effect of each condition. The means which have been devised 
constitute statistical method. 

The usual steps found in statistical method may be listed as: 

1. Collection of data bearing on the problem to be studied. 

2. Organization of the data in such manner that the true in- 

terpretation may be made. 

3. Mathematical treatment of the data to make possible isola- 

tion and evaluation of the significant factors. 

4, Critical examinations and interpretation of the results. 


Numerous examples of statistical studies of educational 
problems can be found in current literature. F. J. Kelly 
applied the statistical method to the study of retardation 
in one-room rural schools in Kansas. Hyer’s ‘‘Study of 
Time Allotments in the Elementary School Subjects’’; 
Eikenberry’s ‘‘Study of the Status of the High School 
Principal’’?; Osburn’s ‘‘Study of Practice in the Funda- 
mentals of Arithmetic’’; Washburne’s ‘‘The Fact Basis of 


3868 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


a History, Geography and Civies Curriculum’’; DeVoss’ 
“‘Study of the Unevenness of the Abilities of Gifted Chil- 
dren in California’’; Coffman’s ‘‘Study of the Social Com- 
position of the Teaching Population’’; are all examples of 
the application of the statistical method to educational 
problems. Rugg gives at the end of his book, Statistical 
Methods Applied to Education, several pages of bibliog- 
raphy made up for the most part of lists of statistical 
studies (pp. 361-75). Reports of statistical investigations 
can be found in current issues of practically any educa- 
tional magazine given over to research and the scientific 
study of teaching. 

The group-experimental method. There are three kinds 
of group-experimental studies found in educational litera- 
ture: (1) the one-group method, (2) the equivalent group 
method, and (3) the rotation method. The group-experi- 
mental method is similar to the statistical method in that 
the data, usually secured through measurement, are treated 
statistically, but different in that the method is experi- 
mental. The statistical method collects facts about educa- 
tional conditions as they are now constituted. The experi- 
mental attempts to introduce new elements, control all save 
a single variable, and measure the results. 

McCall defines the one-group method. MeCall’s How to 
Experiment in Education contains a comprehensive descrip- 
tion of the several experimental methods, the control of 
experimental conditions, and the statistical treatment of 
experimental data. He explains the one-group experiment 
as follows: 7° 


The most frequently used of all types of investigations or ex- 
periments is the one-group type, and it occurs as frequently in 
the physical and social sciences as in the mental. When the 





19 From Wm. A. McCall, How to Experiment in Education, p. 14. 
Reprinted by permission of the Macmillan Co., publishers. 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION . 369 


physicist subtracts a defined amount of heat from a bar of metal 
and measures the resulting contraction, he is using the one-group 
method. When the chemist pours one chemical mixture into an- 
other and analyzes the resulting precipitate, he is employing the 
one-group method. When a psychological examiner fires a pistol 
behind a candidate for aviation and measures the resulting jump, 
he is employing the one-group method. When a teacher scolds her 
class for inadequate preparation and measures the resulting in- 
crease or decrease in study, she is employing the one-group method. 
When a nation like France applies to itself republicanism or a 
nation lke Russia applies to itself bolshevism and observes the 
result, it too, is employing the one-group method. Similarly, 
when a teacher compares the effectiveness of scolding versus 
praising, or instruction by one method versus instruction by 
another method, she too, is employing the one-group method, pro- 
vided the two contrasted factors are tried out upon the identical 
group. <A one-group experiment has been conducted when one 
thing, individual, or group has had applied to it or subtracted 
from it some experimental factor or factors and the resulting 
change or changes have been estimated or measured. 


Examples of the one-group method. Baldwin’s several 
studies of physical growth, and Brooks’s Changes in Mental 
Traits with Age are good examples of the application of 
the one-group method. 

Brooks sought to find out what changes in mental traits 
take place with age. His plan was to test and retest the 
same individual from year to year. The experiment was 
based upon a study of one hundred and seventy-one chil- 
dren in grades four to nine in the trainin school of the 
Mankato (Minnesota) State Teachers College. Numerous 
similar examples can be found in educational literature. 

The equivalent-group method. The equivalent-group 
method is used when there is danger of carry-over or prac- 
tice effect from one experimental factor to another. Two 
groups of equal ability are used. One is known as the 
experimental group; the other, the control group. Besides 
avoiding the possibilities of carry-over from one experi- 
mental factor to another, this method avoids a very difficult 


370 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


problem in measurement; namely, the doubtful assumption 
that it is equally difficult to produce equal amounts of 
change at various points of the growth curve. Incidentally 
the same educational tests may be used with equivalent 
groups where parallel forms are necessary for one group 
experimentation. 

The steps n an equivalent group experiment. Briefly 
the procedure is as follows: 


1. Select two representative groups, an experimental group 
and a control group. 

2. Test the two groups for equivalency. Groups may be 
equated : 
(a) By chance 
(6) On the basis of general ability 
(c) By pairing pupils 
(d) By initial status in the experimental trait 
(e) By a composite of the several methods 

3. Render constant for the experimental period all factors af- 
fecting the outcome except the experimental factor. Take 
into consideration intelligence, maturity, home conditions, 
health, differences in the quality of teaching, the material 
of instruction, and all similar factors likely to affect the 
outcome of the experiment. 

4, Allow a sufficient length of time to elapse for significant 
changes to result. 

5. Test the two groups for changes in the experimental trait. 

6. Compare results. 


An example of the equivalent group method. Miss Nila 
B. Smith used the equivalent-group method in testing the 
effectiveness of the Picture Story Method of reading. She 
describes her procedure as follows: ?° 


This special type of reading was tried out with 180 beginning 
first-grade children in Detroit schools during a period of five 





20 Nila B. Smith, ‘‘Experiment to Determine the Effectiveness of 
the Detroit Standard Practice Tests in Reading,’’ The Detroit 
Journal of Education, Vols. 1 and 2, June, 1922, pp. 48-49. 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 371 


months, September, 1921, to February, 1922. Four schools of 
different types were selected as a field of experimentation, a 
platoon school attended by children from the best homes, a pla- 
toon school attended by children from middle class homes, an 
ordinary type of school attended by children from middle class 
homes, and an ordinary type of school attended by very foreign 
Polish and Hungarian children who, because of crowded condi- 
tions, were limited to half-day sessions of work. 

For each group using the practice tests, a control group using 
another method was selected. In each ease this control group was 
equivalent to the experimental group in the following respects: 
type of school, ability of teacher (as nearly as it was possible 
to judge), number, age, intelligence, nationality, previous train- 
ing, and type of children and the amount of time devoted to 
reading. 

The Detroit Vocabulary Test was administered at the begin- 
ning of the experiment to all children in both groups, but from 
the total number only two pupils recognized any of the words. 
The scores of these two were later discarded, so that it seems 
safe to assume that all scores used in the results tabulated were 
those of children who started with zero ability in reading. 

The teacher kept a record of the number of pages and books 
read by each individual throughout the semester. At the end of 
the time, five standard reading tests were administered: Gray 
Oral Reading Tests, Haggerty Tests 1 and 2, and Detroit Group 
Vocabulary Test, and Detroit Story Picture Test. 


The rotation method. McCall offers the following de- 
seription of the rotation method: ** 


The rotation method is particularly useful for solving experi- 
mental problems insoluble by other methods. It is a unique com- 
bination of two or more one-group methods. When the various 
groups employed are equivalent, the rotation method is a com- 
bination of one-group and equivalent-group methods. 

As the name implies, the distinctive feature of the rotation 
method is that of rotation—rotation of S’s, or EF’s or irrelevant 
factors. If a teacher wishes to study, by means of the rotation 
method, the effect of praising versus scolding, she first praises 


21From Wm. A. McCall, How to Experiment in Education, p. 19, 
Reprinted by permission of the Macmillan Co., publishers. 


872 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


S, and measures the result. This is the one-group method thus. 
far. She first scolds S2, and measures the result, and then 
praises S2 and measures the result. In other words, she ro- 
tates the order of the EF’s. She combines the results from 
praising both groups, and compares the sum so found with the 
sum of the results from scolding both groups. This comparison 
shows whether praising has been more or less effective than 
scolding, how much, and in what direction. 


Examples of the rotation method. Stevenson’s ** investi- 
gation of the effectiveness of large and small classes and 
Heck’s ?* study of mental fatigue are good examples of the 
application of the rotation method. Stevenson compared 
the effectiveness of teaching in classes of thirty and forty- 
five pupils respectively. Both large and small classes were 
taught during the first semester. At the end of the first 
semester fifteen pupils were taken from the larger class and 
added to the smaller. Thus larger and smaller classes were 
subjected to approximately identical conditions, save for 
the element of size. 

Control of expervmental conditions. McCall ** lists the 
following sources of constant irrelevant factors: (1) errors 
due to bias of experimenters, (2) errors due to bias of sub- 
jects, (8) errors due to difference in time allowance, (4) 
errors due to difference in transfer, (5) errors due to bias 
of tests, and (6) numerous environmental factors. 

Courtis,?° in his discussion of factors affecting perform- 
ance lists five factors, (1) capacity, (2) maturity, (3) 
training, (4) environment, and (5) physical, mental, and 





22P. R. Stevenson, ‘‘Smaller Classes or Larger, A Study of the 
Relation of Class Size to the Efficiency of Teaching,’’ (Publie School 
Publishing Co., 1923). 

23 W. H. Heck, A Study of Mental Fatigue (T. P. Bell Co., Lynch- 
burg, Virginia, 1923). 

24Wm. A. McCall, op. cit., pp. 63-80. 

25 Stuart A. Courtis, The Measurement of Classroom Products 
(General Educational Board, 1919), pp. 355-82. 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 373 


emotional states. These, and many other variables, should 
be taken into account in the experimental study of the 
problems of teaching. 

The laboratory method. As contrasted with the statis- 
tical method or the group-experimental method the labora- 
tory method is a method of studying individual cases. Its 
findings are derived directly from the analysis of the in- 
dividual cases rather than from the mathematical study of 
many cases. Its procedure is direct rather than indirect. 
While, for example, the statistical method would determine 
mathematically that one example of a test was more difficult 
because of language complications than another ; the labora- 
tory method would determine the matter directly by ascer- 
taining from the pupils the language complications actually 
encountered. For the application of this method to educa- 
tional problems we are indebted largely to Huey, Dearborn, 
Seashore, Judd and his coworkers of the University of Chi- 
eago. The laboratory investigations of reading by Judd, 
Gray, Buswell, and others and Freeman’s studies of hand- 
writing are noteworthy products of this method. Studies 
of this kind may be either descriptive, comparative or 
experimental. 

Buswell’s summary of the characteristics of the labora- 
tory method. 


When Wundt, 1878, introduced the laboratory method into 
the subject of psychology, the contribution of that science was 
so greatly enhanced that the term “new psychology” has been 
used to characterize the subject since then. Likewise in the field 
of education, the application of the laboratory method has made 
it possible to analyze and measure, by the use of elaborate 
apparatus, educational processes which cannot be studied ade- 
quately by direct observation. 

The types of investigation which made use of the laboratory 
_ method fall into two general groups. The first group includes 
investigations which require a very elaborate form of apparatus 
and a high degree of technical skill. Such studies cannot profit- 


3874 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


ably be attempted by the ordinary public school, but are limited 
to universities or city departments of research where expensive 
apparatus and expert direction can be supplied. Since these 
investigations usually deal with fundamental research problems, 
their results have a permanent value and may be directly applied 
by public schools. 

Two examples may be cited to illustrate the character of this 
group of investigations. First may be cited the researches of 
Judd and his students in the field of reading. The principal 
method used in these studies has involved the photographing of 
the eye-movements of the reader by means of an elaborate, spe- 
cially constructed camera which records upon the moving film 
an exact index of the behavior of the eyes. As an outcome of this 
method of analysis significant facts have been discovered; facts 
which have produced some striking improvements in methods of 
teaching reading. A second example is found in the well-known 
work of Freeman and his students in the subject of hand-writing. 
Here again elaborate forms of recording apparatus have made 
possible a detailed analysis of the hand-writing movement which 
could not have been attempted without such laboratory equip- 
ment. The application of the results of these experiments can 
be clearly observed in the improvement of methods of writ- 
ing. 

It should not be inferred, however, that the laboratory method 
is restricted to such elaborate experiments. A second group of 
investigations should be mentioned which employs methods that 
might be applied by supervisors or well-trained teachers in any 
school. The increased power of analysis which results from the 
use of simple pieces of apparatus such as a metronome, a stop- 
watch, or some form of brief-exposure apparatus is surprising 
to the teacher who has never attempted to use such instruments. 

In summary, the writer sees two distinct fields for the applica- 
tion of the laboratory method; first, in the elaborate investigation 
of fundamental educational problems by university departments 
of education or city departments of research; second, in the 
simpler investigations of the many detailed problems which are 
continually confronting the teacher and supervisor. If city sys- 
tems would add to their staff an expert in laboratory research 
there might be stimulated among principals and supervisors a 
type of analytical investigations which would furnish a whole- 
some supplement to the educational measurement movement. The 
goal of the laboratory method is an exact, objective analysis of 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION = 3875 


‘processes which will make possible more specific forms of 
teaching.?° 


The historical method. The historical method differs 
from the experimental and laboratory methods in that its 
interest is chiefly in the past or the historical background 
of the present. The historian works with documents. ‘‘No 
documents, no history.’’ Events can be known in two ways: 
(1) direct observation, or (2) through traces which they 
leave behind them. The experimental methods are methods 
of direct observation. Historical knowledge is essentially 
indirect knowledge. The facts of history are derived 
through a study of the traces of the past which have been 
preserved. Historical science is, therefore, not a science of 
direct observation. 

External and internal criticism. The work of the educa- 

tional historian is divided into two major fields of opera- 
tion, (1) external criticism, which has for its object the 
investigation of the transmission and origin of documents; 
(2) internal criticism, dealing with the meaning, good faith, 
and accuracy of the author. 
_ External criticism has for its object the production of a 
sound text. In dealing with modern and recent documents 
the problem is a relatively simple one. Ancient educational 
documents offer many problems of textual criticism and 
authorship. 

Internal criticism attempts to reproduce the mental states 
through which the author passed. Many students of edu- 
cation place implicit faith in the printed page, little realiz- 
ing the inadequacies of language in expressing fine shades 
of meaning. 

The first function of internal criticism is to determine the 
real meaning of the author. Language takes on different 





26 G. T. Buswell, ‘‘ Application of the Laboratory Method to Edu- 
cational Problems,’’ The Detroit Journal of Education, Vol. 3, Feb., 
1923, p. 261. 


376 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


meanings at different times and places. The factors affect- 
ing language usage that should ordinarily be noted are: 
(1) changes due to the evolution of the language itself, (2) 
variations from one geographical location to another, (3) 
peculiar usages of the author, (4) changes according to the 
passage where it occurs. The reader should also be con- 
stantly on the guard against reading his own opinions into 
the text. 

Having determined what the author meant to say, the 
eritical historian attempts to investigate the good fath of 
the writer. What are the motives that might lead the writer 
to violate truth? There are six reasons for doubting good 
faith: (1) the author seeks to gain a practical advantage 
for himself, (2) the author is placed in a situation which 
compels him to violate the truth, (3) the author views with 
sympathy or antipathy certain men or events, (4) the author 
is swayed by personal vanity or desire to exalt the achieve- 
ment of a group, (5) the author desires to please the publie, 
and (6) the author indulges in literary artifices. 

A third set of questions have to do with the accuracy of 
statement. There are four common reasons for doubting 
accuracy: (1) the author was a bad observer, (2) the 
author was not well situated for observing, (3) the author 
was negligent or indifferent, and (4) the facts Were not of 
a nature to be directly observed. In actual practice the 
process is much shorter than here indicated. With experi- 
ence the critical student of the past develops a kind of 
‘‘eritical sense’? which is an unconscious habit of criticism. 

The English historian Froude offers a classical case of 
imaccuracy. 


Froude was a gifted writer, but destined never to advance any 
statement that was not disfigured by error; it has been said of 
him that he was constitutionally inaccurate. For example, he had 
visited the City of Adelaide in Australia: “We saw,” says he, 
“below us, In an oasis with a river winding through it, a city of 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 377 


150,000 inhabitants, none of whom has ever known or will ever 
know one moment’s anxiety as to the recurring regularity of his 
three meals a day.” Thus Froude, now for the facts: Adelaide is 
built on an eminence; no river runs through it; when Froude 
visited it the population did not exceed 75,000, and it was suffer- 
ing from a famine at that time.27 


The genetic method. Genetic psychology is a special- 
ized field of applied psychology that attempts to organize 
psychological knowledge in terms of mental growth or evo- 
lution. It got its emphasis from the Darwinian theory of 
evolution. It concerns itself especially with mental and 
social development from simple beginnings into more com- 
plex forms. It discusses various stages of growth of child 
development. A considerable body of materials has been 
gathered setting forth the characteristics of children of 
pre-school age, of the primary grades, of the grammar 
grades, of the intermediate school grades, and of the 
high-school grades. Such knowledge is especially necessary 
in curriculum-making, where the child and subject matter 
must be brought together and harmonized. 

Summary statement. Up to this point in the chapter, 
two general problems pertaining to the application of scien- 
tifie methods to the problems of teaching have been dis- 
eussed: (1) the general nature of the scientific method, 
(2) some applications of the scientific method to the prob- 
lems of education. In this study of the scientific method 
an attempt was made to show how scientific workers proceed. 
to marshal facts for the solution of educational problems. 
An attempt was made to summarize the technique for a 
more exact study of teaching. It will be the purpose of 
the remainder of this chapter to discuss the organization 
of research for the productive study of the problems of 
teaching. 





27 Charles V. Langlois, and Charles Seignobos, Introduction to the 
Study of History (Henry Holt & Co., 1912), p. 125. 


378 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


ORGANIZATION FOR RESEARCH 


The research bureau and the improvement of teaching. 
Many superintendents have carried on successful programs 
of research for the improvement of teaching. One of the 
interesting developments of recent years has been the estab- 
lishment of research bureaus. Baldwin *® listed in 1923 
eighty centers with such bureaus. For the most part these 
bureaus are in larger cities, state departments, and uni- 
versities. The movement is gradually extending to smaller 
cities and county departments. A scientific attitude on the 
part of the superintendent, a well-trained statistical clerk, 
and an office has been the sole equipment for an accredit- 
able piece of educational research in many small school 
systems. Cities such as Cleveland, Seattle, Denver, Los 
Angeles, and Detroit have embarked upon extensive pro- 
erams of research. 

The functions of the research bureau. There are two 
main functions of the research bureau: (1) the survey fune- 
tion, (2) the educational research function. Many of the 
earlier bureaus grew out of the survey idea. Many super- 
intendents felt the need for a continuous survey depart- 
ment. These earlier bureaus were in many cases given over 
to the mere routine of purchasing, distributing, giving, 
scoring and tabulating test results, and the compilation of 
school statistics. Some bureaus turned their attention to 
test construction. Later many of them became interested 
in the experimental study of teaching. The chief interest 
of this chapter is in this second function; that is, the im- 
provement of teaching through research, and the experi- 
mental study of the problems of teaching. 

A study of the scope of work of eighteen research bureaus 





28 Bird T. Baldwin, ‘‘ Educational Research,’’ United States Bureau 


of Education, Bulletin No. 42, 1923. 


ee 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 379 


in larger cities as reported by Deffenbaugh in 1923,?° indi- 
cates a wide range of duties for which these bureaus are 
responsible. All bureaus, it would seem from a study of 
this report, are responsible for the testing program. In a 
majority of cases this responsibility includes both eduea- 
tional and intelligence tests. Many bureaus are also respon- 
sible for the school statistics, such as attendance, enroll- 
ment, size of classes, teaching load, census, ete. Other 
funetions named in this report, given in order of the fre- 
quency with which they occurred are: making special re- 
search studies, classification of pupils, age-grade studies, 
development of courses of study, cost studies, training 
teachers in the use of tests, improvement of teaching, school 
counseling, advising teachers on research projects, pub- 
licity, test construction, census, superintendent’s annual 
report, and conducting educational clinics. 

The Akron organization a typical one. The organization 
and scope of a city bureau of research can be seen in the 
following statement concerning the Bureau of Research in 
Akron, Ohio.*° 


Organized September, 1920. Members of staff—Director, as- 
sistant, psychologist, and a clerk; additional assistance called in 
for a few weeks at a time when work is especially pressing. Dur- 
ing the first year, use was made of the juniors and seniors in the 
normal school. Since then the work has been so organized that 
principals and teachers assist. 

Total amount expended for research work, 1921-22—$6,110.37. 

Scope of work—(1) Keep up a continuous survey of elemen- 
tary school work through the use of standardized educational 
tests; (2) to train teachers in the use of educational tests; (3) 
to help improve instruction; (4) to experiment in classification ; 
(5) to handle all mental testing; (6) to form special classes 
under direction of psychologist; (7) to make age-grade studies; 
(8) to develop course of study for the elementary grades. 


29 W. S. Deffenbaugh, ‘‘ Research Bureaus in City School Systems, ’’ 
United States Bureau of Education, City School Leaflet No. 5. 
30 Ibid., pp. 2-3. 


380 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Studies made—1920-21; A survey of schools in reading, arith- 
metic, spelling, and penmanship; measured progress made during 
year in reading and arithmetic; measured relative effectiveness 
of Courtis and Studebaker practice material on arithmetic as 
compared with usual methods of drill. 

1921-22. Survey in arithmetic each semester; program in 
arithmetic each semester; relative effect of experimental methods 
on reading compared with regular methods; relative effect of 
Courtis and Studebaker practice material compared with regular 
methods; correlation between success in 9B work and score made 
in national intelligence examination, grade A; classification based 
on results of intelligence examinations and work on school sub- 
jects in one large elementary school; age-grade studies. 


The purposes of the Minneapolis research bureau. 
Brueckner explains the purpose of the Bureau of Educa- 
tional Research in the Minneapolis Schools as follows: ** 


1. The research bureau is a service agency whose function it 
is to assist in the securing of information necessary to 
arrive at a possible workable solution of problems either 
administrative or instructional, which arise in the work 
of the schools. 

2. The research bureau is a coordinating agency whose func- 

tions are: 

(a) To stimulate and coordinate research work in all 
educational agencies 

(0) To make available the results of research and investi- 
gation, both national and local in character 

(c) To study scientifically problems of instruction in the 
schools of the city 

(a2) To assist in the preparation of materials needed in 
the training of the instructional staff 

(e) To coordinate research work on courses of study 


3. The research bureau is a cooperative self-survey agency 
whose function it is to assist in the constant critical analy- 
sis of the ways in which the school is achieving its objec- 


31L. J. Brueckner, ‘‘ Educational Research in the Minneapolis 
Schools,’’ Proceedings of the Second Annual Conference, Minnesota 
Society for the Study of Education, 1925, pp. 9-13. 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 381 


tives and in the experimental work necessary to bring 
about an improvement. 


The Winnetka organzation for research. Probably one 
of the best known city organizations for research is that of 
Winnetka. Superintendent Washburne describes the or- 
ganization as follows: *” 


Research under public school conditions—indeed educational 
research of all kinds and under any conditions—is so desperately 
needed in these early days of the science of education, that the 
teachers of the Winnetka public schools have been organized 
into research groups which are attacking several problems which 
demand immediate attention. 

There are three forms of research organization in the Win- 
netka Schools, the grade groups, the research seminar, and the 
special research workers. 

The grade groups consist of the kindergarten teachers, the 
first grade teachers, the second grade teachers, and so on through 
grade six. In the junior high school, there would theoretically 
be corresponding subject groups—English, arithmetic, social 
studies, and special, but as a matter of fact the junior high 
school teachers have done less research than those of the lower 
grades. Each grade group works on problems intimately con- 
nected with the methods and subject matter of the grade repre- 
sented. 

The seminar consists of volunteers from all grades, including 
the members of the junior high school staff; about twenty-five 
teachers are enrolled this year. This group meets for two hours 
alternate Wednesday evenings at 7 o’clock. The seminar at- 
tacks general problems, the solution of which is needed by sev- 
eral or all of the grades. The work of the seminar is usually 
more ambitious and laborious than that of the grade groups. 

The special research workers give half or full time to still more 
extensive problems. They are provided with clerical help and 
offices, and are supported by a special fund from the board of 
education, which has been augmented this year by a subvention 
from the Commonwealth Fund. 


82 Carleton W. Washburne, Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 
10, pp. 364-68. 


382 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


The grade groups have worked on both curriculum and method 
problems. A summary of these problems will be indicative of 
the sort of contributions which the classroom teacher can make 
to the science of education. 

I. The kindergartners wanted to discover, two years ago, 
whether handwork produced better general coordination of the 
hand or gave only specific training. When a diligent search 
had failed to reveal any literature on the subject, controlled ex- 
periments were begun. 

Each of the three kindergartens was divided into equal parallel 
groups by means of tests of coordination, several of Whipple’s 
tests and some original ones were used for this purpose. For 
an hour each day, the training group in each kindergarten was 
given varied kinds of handwork—drawing, modeling, bead string- 
ing, cutting, pasting, and block building. The control group was 
taken out for excursions, told stories, or otherwise entertained 
during this period. At the end of six weeks all children were 
retested. No apparent difference was discovered, but it was 
decided to repeat the experiment with a longer training period 
(one semester) and with more carefully refined tests. This was 
done last year and the results were negative. No detailed ac- 
count of the experiment has yet been published. 

II. The first and second grade teachers wanted to find out 
what phonograms would be most useful to children. They ecar- 
ried out several elaborate word-counts in primers and first and 
second readers, and found which phonograms had the greatest 
frequency. <A full account of this study has been published.*3 


III. Should children learn their addition combinations ration- 
ally and objectively, or automatically as they learn sight words 
in reading? This question was attacked by the first grade 
teachers in November, 1922. Each of seven first grades through- 
out that year was arranged in equal parallel groups. The second 
grade teachers have taken the same groups on this year, and 
tests have been given to discover which method was more success- 
ful. The teachers have decided not to publish their results as yet. 
They feel, and rightly so, that several vitiating factors crept into 
the experiment in spite of all precautions, and that it should be 


33 Mabel Vogel, E. Jaycox, and C. W. Washburne, ‘‘A Basic List 
of Phonies for Grades I and II,’’ Elementary School Journal, Vol. 
23, Feb., 1923, pp. 436-52. : 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 383 


repeated over a shorter period of time and with more stringent 
pairing and controls. 


A number of other results, similar to the three above, 
are included in the account. 


The seminar’s first big job was the determination of the per- 
sons, places, and events most commonly alluded to in periodical 
literature, as one basis for a fact course in history and geography. 
This investigation has been fully described.*4 

This year the seminar is determining which syllables are most 
common in the ten thousand commonest words (Thorndike). It 
is hoped that these commonest syllables may be the basis for 
some work in phonies, for diagnostic reading tests, and for read- 
ing remedial work. The results will be published shortly. 

The seminar’s next problem is the grading of children’s books 
on the basis of the pupils’ interests. Each child on completing 
a book rates it “very interesting,” “fair,” or “not interesting,” 
and “too hard,” “about right,’ or “too easy.” This ballot is 
marked with his age, sex, grade, and reading-test score. With 
many thousand such ballots the seminar hopes next year to make 
progress in the accurate grade-placement of a considerable num- 
ber of children’s books. 

There are two special research workers assisted by clerks. One, 
Louise Mohr, was first employed by the Commonwealth Fund 
subvention for determining one basis for a fact course in history 
and geography. She was a classroom teacher, selected for this 
research work because of very marked ability and a wide back- 
ground of reading. She was so successful with the work that 
the Board of Education authorized us to continue to employ her 
after the Commonwealth subvention ran out. This year she 
teaches half time and devotes the rest of her time to the prepara- 


384C, W. Washburne, ‘‘Basic Facts in History and Geography,’’ 
Twenty-second Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of 
Education (Bloomington, Illinois, Public School Publishing Co., 1923) 
Part II, Chap. xiii. 

Louise Mohr, and C. W. Washburne, ‘‘The Winnetka Social-Science 
Investigation,’’ Elementary School Journal, Vol. 23, Dec., 1922, pp. 
267-75. 

- Charles Pendleton, and C. W. Washburne, ‘‘The Fact Basis of a 
History, Geography, and Civies Curriculum,’’ Journal of Educational 
Research, Vol. 8, Oct., 1923, pp. 233-38. 


384 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


tion and evaluation of our history-geography materials. She is 
supplied with a clerk and office. When, two or three years hence, 
her material is published, it will be a contribution of unusual 
value. 

The other special research worker, Mabel Vogel, was also 
drawn from the ranks of the classroom teachers. In the phonie 
study referred to above, she showed a power of work, a con- 
scientiousness, and an intelligence which justified us in turning 
over to her the investigation of the results of individual instrue- 
tion, which was in reality, a self-survey of the Winnetka schools 
under the advisory guidance of Dean W. S. Gray of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago. Miss Vogel, her clerk, and other expenses of 
the survey were financed largely through a special subvention 
from the Commonwealth Fund. Full results will be published 
soon. 

The Commonwealth Fund has twice given us invaluable help 
in time of need, but the bulk of the research in the Winnetka 
schools has been and is entirely unfinanced, for the classroom 
teachers have caught the spirit of scientific investigation. By 
organizing them into the research units, already referred to, it 
has been possible to use their practical experience and conscien- 
tious intelligent persistence in the scientific study of several real 
educational problems. 


The Denver curriculum revision. The Denver program 
of curriculum revision is a striking attempt at city-wide 
curriculum revision on the codperative research basis. The 
new Denver curriculum is the product of the joint contribu- 
tions of teachers, principals, supervisors, administrators, 
and curriculum experts. The main principles underlying 
the program were: (1) participation of teacher, principals, 
and supervisors in course of study making; (2) careful 
organization and supervision of curriculum committees; 
(3) incorporation of advaneed educational thought of the 
whole profession; (4) curriculum revision should be con- 
tinuous.*° 


85 A. L. Threlkeld, ‘‘Curriculum Revision: How a Particular City 
May Attack the Problem,’’ The Elementary School Journal, Vol. 25, 
April, 1925, pp. 573-82. . 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 385 


The public school teacher as a research worker. The 
Winnetka plan quoted above indicates the possibilities of 
utilizing the teacher as a research worker. Buckingham has 
advocated this for some time pointing out that both teacher 
_.and research worker will profit. He presents the problem 
~ as follows: *° 


A recent interest in the question of learning in relation to 
teaching method has led me to believe that a great deal of ex- 
perimentation on learning questions is educationally ineffective 
because it is conducted under artificial conditions and restrictions. 
Somebody found in a psychology laboratory that certain striking 
facts were secured by the administering of praise and blame dur- 
ing the learning of nonsense syllables by adults. If the experi- 
menter says to the subject—you know the learners are subjects 
of the laboratory—“You did that splendidly,” or “I don’t know 
that I ever saw that done better,” or “How do you learn so rap- 
idly?” the subject so expands and warms to his labor that he 
produces 70 or 80 per cent better results than he or another of 
the same ability produces if the experimenter says to him some- 
thing like this: “You ought to be ashamed of that,” or “A child 
of six could do better than that,” or “That is the worst record I 
have ever seen.” 

The results of this laboratory investigation is to throw into 
high relief the notion that pleasurable emotional tone is of great 
value in learning. It would, however, be much more significant 
for purposes of education if this work of the psychologist were 
followed up by the teacher in a classroom situation. The psy- 
chologist is the pioneer and no one in his senses will belittle his 
labors. But with reference to education they are incomplete. 
They have no sufficient application. What is done with adults 
and with nonsense syllables may or may not work out with chil- 
dren and with the multiplication table or a lesson in history. 
Suppose some teacher were to try out under reasonably controlled 
conditions the effect of praise. Would not the report of such an 
investigation even if it were worked out in a single classroom 
be gladly received by a reputable educational journal? If you 
are inclined to desire data on more children than are to be found 


36 B. R. Buckingham, Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 11, 
April, 1925, pp. 235-43. 


386 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


in a single classroom, you should remember that as many as thirty 
or forty subjects in a psychology laboratory are by no means 
common. Moreover, there is no reason why teachers’ research 
work should not be organized so that several classrooms may 
participate in the same project. 


Buckingham’s account, which cannot be quoted in full 
here, includes a number of illustrations of research prob- 
lems worked out in college classes or laboratories which 
could be duplicated to advantage in the ordinary elemen- 
tary or high-school classrooms. This account should be 
studied in full. 

There are, however, three points to be kept in mind in 
attempting to stimulate research among teachers. In the 
first place most teachers under ordinary circumstances do 
not have time or facilities for carrying on such work. This 
is being arranged, however, by certain progressive city ad- 
ministrations. In the second place the teacher does not as 
a rule have the requisite training for doing research. This 
is a serious difficulty unless the superviscry staff or the 
bureau of research is in a position to guide the work 
closely. There is a good deal of so-called ‘‘experimental’’ 
work going on in the classrooms of the country which is not 
experimental research in any sense of the word. It is 
merely haphazard try-out of some procedure or other. It 
bears no relation to careful scientific investigation. The 
problem is not clearly stated, experimental conditions are 
not controlled, the results are not comparable to any stand- 
ards and mean nothing in particular. 

In the third place, and this is a vital point, there is some 
opposition on the part of certain administrative officers 
toward the teacher as a research worker. It is unquestion- 
ably true that in many places there is a small nucieus of 
progressive teachers who are better trained, and who have a 
better professional spirit than their own building princi- 
pals, and sometimes better even than some of the assist- 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 387 


ant superintendents over them. This anomalous situa- 
tion is due to the fact that teachers have been required 
for long to take training courses while in service. The 
progressive teachers have also used fully the facilities 
for extension courses, have taken summer school work, 
and so forth. Many minor administrative officers have 
taken no advanced training over a period of many 
years and, as a result, are either largely ignorant of mod- 
ern scientific procedure, or fear and distrust it. These men 
are often unsympathetic to experimentation by the teacher 
or actively oppose it. During the very week that this was 
being written four cases came to the writer’s attention. 
Two elementary principals each flatly prohibited in their 
respective buildings, the participation of a teacher in a 
small research study. <A group of elementary principals 
refused permission to a research student (a teacher in 
Service) to use twenty minutes of time in the various build- 
ings examining some special individual cases. Another 
principal refused one of his own teachers access to the pu- 
pils’ cumulative record cards so that this teacher could 
earry out a study of pupil progress over a period of years. 
In no single case was the work of the school to be unduly 
interrupted, the last one did not even invelve school time. 
Each study was to have been under the direction of a com- 
petent research agency. Certainly a principal must safe- 
guard the work under his direction from undue interrup- 
tion, but he stands in his own light in opposing a reasonable 
amount of carefully controlled experimentation. In many 
places of course these administrative officers are sympa- 
thetic to, and vigorously stimulate research. 

All the difficulties pointed out above can be overcome and 
the teacher may be enabled to participate in research. 
_ The organization of teachers for research. In many 
school systems an elaborate organization for research is 
impossible. In that case the superintendent may look to 


388 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


his teaching staff as assistants in a greater research bureau. 
More than one superintendent, in considering methods of 
improving instruction, has overlooked the possibilities of 
utilizing the contributions of classroom teachers. ‘Teachers 
are really making contributions to the technique of teaching 
daily. For some reason, the machinery for collecting and 
disseminating this information, in most school systems, has 
never been set up. With proper organization not only 
could these ideas be saved for the general improvement of 
instruction but teachers could be stimulated to try experi- 
ments which would result in the development not only of 
new methods of instruction but also greater teaching power 
in the teacher herself. 

The general assumption is that teachers must busy them- 
selves with teaching and not with plans for improving the 
technique of teaching. Strangely enough, many teachers 
have accepted this assumption and have looked upon oppor- 
tunities for participation in the management of the school — 
system as extra burdens. he experience of the last few 
years, however, has shown that the improvement of teaching 
is such a large undertaking that any general forward move- 
ment in educational practice must of necessity include 
the efforts of teachers as well as of principals and super- 
visors. 

The classroom teacher should be called upon to discover 
adaptations to classroom situations of the results of the 
educational research now carried on largely in university 
centers. Applied research is just as laudable as pure re- 
search. A tremendous amount of effort has been expended 
in the universities of the country in developing new ideas. 
Important as this work is, the immediate improvement of 
classroom instruction depends upon the adaptation of these 
ideas to the innumerable variations in classroom conditions. 
Members of the teaching body should ultimately think and 
act according to the best that science offers. This can be 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 389 


accomplished only when teachers are trained to apply sci- 
entific principles to classroom teaching. 

The Detrort plan for securing the codperation of teachers 
in the experimental study of teaching. An attempt was 
made in the Detroit Public Schools to organize teachers for 
the experimental study of teaching problem.*? After con- 
ference with the various persons concerned, the Department 
of Supervision of the Detroit public schools announced in 
April, 1922, a plan for the conservation of instructional 
ideas derived from the teaching body. The plan is described 
below: ) 


Detroit has a large force of keen, well-trained, and experienced 
teachers. Many of these teachers are making valuable contri- 
butions to classroom organization and management and to the 
technique of teaching, but, because of the very largeness of the 
system, many ideas and plans useful to the city as a whole are 
lost. A plan follows for systematically collecting and conserving 
for the entire teaching force the most valuable examples of ex- 
perimental teaching. For those teachers who make such contri- 
butions suitable recognition is provided. 

1. The plan as here outlined includes instructional experiments 
and variations from standard classroom procedure of the follow- 
ing types: (a) variations in instructional records and forms, 
(6) changes in the course of study, (c) suggestions for better 
classroom organization and management, (@) improved methods 
of teaching, (e) experimental investigations, and (f) child wel- 
fare. 

2. Teachers having such suggestions and modifications to sub- 
mit should state in not more than three hundred words (a) 
exactly what the experiment is [‘“experiment” as here used in- 
cludes all such variations in standard procedure as are listed in 
Paragraph 1], (b) when the experiment was started and when 
it will end, (c) why the experiment is especially worth while, 
and (d) how the results may be used throughout the school sys- 
tem. This statement should be accompanied by such printed and 


37 A. 8. Barr, ‘‘A Plan for Securing the Codperation of Teachers 
in the Improvement of Instruction,’’ The Elementary School Journal, 
Vol. 24, May, 1924, pp. 662-72. 


390 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


mimeographed materials and data as are available. The state- 
ment must carry the approval of the principal of the school 
concerned. 

3. On receipt, by the Department of Supervision, of a state- 
ment that an experiment is being conducted, the work will be 
inspected by the supervisor concerned. The supervisor at the 
time of his visit will be glad to discuss the work and give such 
assistance as is possible. 

4. Each experiment or piece of work will be rated A, B, or C. 
A “C” experiment is one worthy of mention but not recom- 
mended for further use in the system. A “B” experiment is one 
of average promise and should be used as a basis for more ex- 
tensive experimentation. An “A” experiment is an exceptionally 
good experiment which can be put into immediate use throughout 
the schools, 

5. Only original experiments (experiments new to the system) 
will be accredited. Original experiments will be interpreted to 
mean those not covered by previous reports from teachers, or by 
written materials from the supervisory and administrative groups, 
or by publications of the Detroit Board of Education. 

6. Each experiment will be recorded on the teacher’s efficiency 
rating card as evidence of professional leadership and ability. 

7. When materials have been accepted for city-wide use, the 
contributing teacher may, if she so desires, present in person the 
materials to the district principal or principals. 

8. The Detroit Journal of Education will be glad to print, 
over the contributors’ names, summaries of a limited number of 
such studies. 

9. For those teachers who care to avail themselves of the op- 
portunity, credit will be given by the Detroit Teachers College. 
Teachers desiring such credit must make the request in writing 
at the time of initiating the experiment, in order that suitable 
conferences and readings may be planned. Credit can be given 
only under such conditions. 


As a result of the plan, teachers submitted material such 
as they thought might be of value to the system at large. 
On receipt of these materials, conferences were held, fol- 
lowed by expert assistance from the supervisor within 
whose field the project fell. An idea of what the teachers 
contributed may be gained from the following list: 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION 391 


teArt 
(a) Poster booklet of Detroit 
2. Musie 


(a) Intermediate-school music 
(6) Class instruction in violin 


3. Social sciences 
(a) The teaching of locational geography 
(6) An experiment in the use of the Rugg social-science 
studies 
(c) A study of social traits 
(d) Social rating 
(e) A study of auditorium activities 
(f) Patriots’ reading club 
(g) Guide-posts to citizenship 
(7) An experiment in the social-science curriculum 
(h) Blue-prints for nature study 
(7) An analytical study of history 
(k) Roosevelt’s birthday—a seventh-grade project 


4, Exact sciences 
(a) Teaching eighth-grade algebra 


5. Health 
(a) An experiment to determine relative value of formal 
gymnasium in play 
(b) An experiment in physical growth 
(c) Physiotherapy 
(d) Physical examination 
(e) Health plays 


6. English 
(a) A course of study in vocational English 
(vb) The teaching of occupations in the English class 
(c) A study of school papers 
(d) Oral composition 
(e) Individual record cards in oral ate 
(f) Student government 
(g) A seventh-grade project in English 
(hk) An experiment in English and spelling 


7 Reading 
(a) Silent-reading lessons 
(b) Devices in silent reading 


392 


10. 


iL; 


12. 


13. 


14. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


(c) Materials for silent reading 

(d) Group work in reading 

(e) An attempt to make sight reading pleasurable 

(f) An experiment in reading with X pupils in Grade 
1A 


Kindergarten 
(a) Safety-first in kindergartens 
(ob) Kindergarten objectives 
(c) A kindergarten project (use of bags) 


Domestic science 
(a) A eafeteria project 


Spelling 
(a) A spelling experiment 
(b) Self-promotion of pupils in spelling 


Penmanship 
(a) Position in handwriting 


Edueational tests 
(a) Reading tests for classification purposes 
(b) Tests for comprehension in reading 
(c) The use of tests for improving instructiou 
(d) The use of tests in meeting classroom situations 


Vocational education 
(a) A shop management device 
(b) A study of the occupational interests of school chil- 
dren 
(c) General shop work 


Miscellaneous 

(a) Age-grade progress 

(6) Time distribution blank 

(c) The use of tests in supervision 

(d) Score card to assist teachers in the study and rating 
of pupils 

(e) The use of pictures 

(f) A study of failures 

(g) An experiment to determine the capabilities of X 
children 

(h) Methods that libraries may use to assist teachers 

(7) Attendance at movies 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 393 


(7) Money for nicknacks 

(k) Reducing failures 

(1) The use of coaching teachers 

(m) A method of using tabulation sheets 

(x) The absences of married teachers as compared with 
the absences of single teachers 


The Department of Supervision was early confronted in 
this study with the fact that it had very little information 
about the real problems of classroom instruction. There 
was an abundance of information about what educational 
experts thought teachers needed but little real knowledge 
about what teachers wanted. In order to get more infor- 
mation concerning the needs of classroom teachers, a ques- 
tionnaire was sent to a group of elementary schools. A 
number of valuable suggestions and problems were received. 
These suggestions were then combined with the suggestions 
made by the supervisory staff and a list of common prob- 
lems compiled. This list together with references on each 
was sent to the teachers with the purpose of securing con- 
certed action. The list of references was not intended as 
complete, nor are they references to solutions of the prob- 
lems. They should serve rather to stimulate the teacher to 
thoughtful consideration of the problem. Samples from the 
list illustrate the procedure: 


SUGGESTIVE PROBLEMS FOR FuRTHER EXPERIMENTATION 


1. How can the instruction of handicapped children be im- 
proved? J. EK. Wallace Wallin, “The Theory of Differ- 
ential Education as Applied to Handicapped Pupils 
in the Elementary Grades,” Journal of Educational Re- 
search, Vol. 6, Oct., 1922, pp. 209-24. 


2. Observation is a large factor in one’s education. How 
can a better technique of observation be developed for 
classroom purposes? Daniel Starch, Educational Psy- 
chology (New York, The Macmillan Co., 1920), pp. 
132-40. 


394 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Definitions in dictionaries are sometimes quite as unin- 
telligible as the words themselves. How ean word con- 
cepts be developed? 


Habit is a most powerful life-factor. Just what should 
be reduced to a habit basis in a given field of activity? 
How can pupils be made masters of habit? John Dewey, 
Human Nature and Conduct (New York, Henry Holt 
& Co., 1922). 


Many school systems attempt a homogeneous grouping of 
pupils for purposes of instruction. In the smaller 
schools, X, Y, Z, rooms cannot be maintained for sep- 
arate groups. What is the most economical procedure 
for handling X, Y, Z groups in small schools? 


It is difficult to know all children personally. How do you 
come to know your pupils? W. C. Reavis, “Student 
Accounting in the High School,” Detroit Journal of 
Education, Vol. 3, May, 1923, pp. 389-92. 


How can pupils be trained to concentrate? Give typical 
lesson procedure. Robert S. Woodworth, Psychology 
(New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1921), pp. 244-70. 


How can individual assistance be given to a large class of 
pupils with many varied interests? 


. There is a difference of opinion among educators concern- 


ing the segregation of X, Y, Z pupils. Which brings the 
greatest good to the greatest number, X, Y, Z pupils 
taught as separate groups in different rooms or taught 
as a single group in one room—that is, which is the more 
effective, homogeneous grouping or heterogeneous group- 
ing? W. W. Theisen, “The “Relative Progress of VII 
B Groups Sectioned on the Basis of Ability,” Journal of 
Educational Research, Vol. 5, April, 1922, pp. 295-305. 


10. How ean illustrative materials be organized for classroom 


use? Carter Alexander, School Statistics and Publicity 
(Newark, New Jersey, Silver, Burdett & Co., 1919), pp. 
234-302. 


11. How can instructional materials be distributed in the class- 


room with minimum loss of time and confusion? Har- 


12. 


ibs» 


14. 


15. 


16. 


aK ¢ 


18. 


bos 
=) 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 395 


mon Ebert Waits, Practical Problems of the School 
(Chicago, Benjamin H. Sanborn & Co., 1921), pp. 71-72. 


How can pupil initiative be developed? Give typical 
lesson procedure. George Allen Coe, “A Study in Civie 
Training,” Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. 29, Sept., 1922, 
pp. 205-31. 


How can unruly pupils be interested and controlled? 
William C. Bagley, School Discipline (New York, The 
Macmillan Co., 1915). 


How should stimulation materials be organized and pre- 
sented to produce the maximum effect? Just what are 
the mental processes operating in a stimulation recita- 
tion? What are the fundamental principles that should 
guide such work? J. Crosby Chapman and R. B. Feder, 
“The Effect of External Incentives on Improvement,” 
Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 8, Sept., 1917, 
pp. 469-74. 


How can pupils be used in the correction of compositions? 
What procedure is the most economical? Walter Barnes, 
“The Reign of Red Ink,” English Journal, Vol. 2, March, 
1913, pp. 158-65. 


Pupils may be taught the same instructional materials to 
different degrees of control, or they may be taught dif- 
ferent amounts of material [with common core] with 
equal mastery. How can a class be organized to give 
to all pupils 100 per cent or equal mastery of ma- 
terials? Henry C. Morrison, “Studies in High School 
Procedure—Half-Learning,” School Review, Vol. 29, 
Feb., 1921, pp. 106-18. 


How should a problem-solving (project) lesson be taught? 
“Dangers and Difficulties of the Project Method and 
How to Overcome Them—A Symposium,” Teachers Col- 
lege Record, Vol. 22, Sept., 1921, pp. 283-333. 


How should a study recitation be conducted? G. M. 
Whipple, “How to Study Effectively,” (Bloomington, 
Illinois, Public School Publishing Co., 1916). 


. How ean pupils be taught to read silently, economically, 


396 


20. 


21. 


22. 


23. 


24. 


25. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


and effectively? William Scott Gray, with the coopera- 
tion of Delia Kibbe, Laura Lucas, and L. W. Miller, 
‘Remedial Cases in Reading: Their Diagnosis and Treat- 
ment,’ Supplementary Educational Monographs, No. 22 
(Department of Education, University of Chicago, 
1922); 


What instructional materials are most suitable (based on 
actual classroom use) for pupils of different levels of 
intelligence in each grade? For example, Y and Z 
pupils in III B reading. 


How can the work of the recitation be more highly so- 
cialized? Charles L. Robbins, The Socialized Recitation 
(Boston, Allyn & Bacon, 1920). 


Pupils of a given level of intelligence may show different 
degrees of attainment in the various subjects of instruc- 
tion. How can a more flexible group of pupils be se- 
eured? Carleton W. Washburne, “Educational Measure- 
ments as a Key to Individual Instruction and Promo- 
tions,” Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 5, March, 
1922, pp. 195-206. 


Teachers need at the initial meeting of a new class infor- 
mation concerning the progress of each pupil for the 
last semester. What information is the most essential? 
In what form should this information be organized to 
be most useful? Elize Oglesby, “Standards of Promo- 
tion,’ mimeographed notes, File No. 1591. Detroit 
Board of Education. 


Educational diagnosis is an important tool for the im- 
provement of instruction. How ean teachers econom- 
ically use diagnosis as a guide to instruction? Bertha 
M. Rogers and Teresa Baker, “A Diagnostic and Reme- 
dial Activity in Supervision,” Journal of Educational 
Research, Vol. 5, Jan., 1922, pp. 21-26. 


“Variety is the spice of life,” so says the old adage. How 
can variety of method be most effectively introduced 
into daily classroom instruction? Ruby Minor, “Prin- 
ciples of Method Applied in Concrete Situations,” Jour- 


26. 


28. 


29. 


30. 
31. 


32. 


33. 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION — 397 


nal of Educational Research, Vol. 5, Jan., 1922, pp. 
27-44. 


“Man does not succeed by intelligence alone.” How can 
social progress measured? A. S. Barr, “A Study in 
Social Rating,” School and Home Education, Vol. 41, 
Oct. and Nov., 1921, pp. 46-58. 


. What are the characteristics of the growth curve of chil- 


dren in height and weight? Norton H. Pearl and Ralph 
McLain, “A Course of Study in Health Instruction,” 
Elementary Schools, Detroit, Michigan; Board of Edu- 
eation, 1922. 


The same methods of instruction are not equally effective 
for all types of material. Specific methods for each unit 
of instruction need to be developed. F. N. Freeman, 
The Psychology of the Common Branches (Boston, 
Houghton Mifflin Co., 1916). 


Not all teachers can use the same method with equal 
effectiveness. How can methods be varied to meet indi- 
vidual differences among teachers? A. S. Barr, “Funda- 
mental Tendencies in Present Day Edueation,” Detroit 
Journal of Education, Vol. 3, Feb., 1923, pp. 245-56. 


How ean children be taught to take care of equipment 
and to be economical of supplies (thrift) ? 


How can 100 per cent attention and 100 per cent partici- 
pation be secured in auditoriums? 


What are the characteristics of the mental growth curve 
of children? Bird T. Baldwin and Lorle I. Stecher, 
“Mental Growth Curve of Normal and Superior Chil- 
dren.” University of Lowa Studies in Child Welfare, 
Vol. 2, No. 1 (Iowa City, Iowa, University of Iowa, 
1922). 


What is the most effective procedure for handling non- 
English-speaking pupils of the elementary grades? Nina 
J. Beglinger, “Minimizing the Language Handicap of 
the Foreign Child,” Detroit Journal of Education, Vol. 
3, Oct., 1922, pp. 57-58. 


398 


34. 


35. 


36. 


37. 


38. 


39. 


40. 


41, 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Pupils in the junior and senior high schools frequently 
show lack of control over the tool subjects. How can 
elementary-school standards be maintained in _ these 
grades? C. C. Certain, “The Briggs Form Test in Use,” 
English Journal, Vol. 12, April, 1923, pp. 244-57. 


How can a sense of responsibility be developed among 
pupils? 


An outstanding problem in American life is character 
education. Just how can classroom instruction con- 
tribute most effectively? Character Education Methods. 
Chevy Chase, Washington, D. C.: Character Education 
Institution, 1922. 


Some educators feel that pupils should have direct social 
training. What should be the content of a course in 
direct social training? Charles L. Robbins, The Social- 
ized Recitation (Boston, Allyn & Bacon, 1920). 


Many pupils fail to accomplish the most in life following 
school because of the lack of a sufficiently strong ‘“de- 
sire to do so.” Can a specific technique be developed 
for training pupils in the “desire to do so”? Robert 
Sessions Woodworth, Dynamic Psychology (New York, 
Columbia University Press, 1918), p. 36. 


Can social science be taught in the secondary schools? If 
so, what should be the content of such a course? David 
Snedden, Educational Sociology (New York, Century 
Co., 1922). 


Social-science writers to-day recommend the application 
of scientific methods to social problems. Can concrete 
examples of the application of scientifie methods for 
the improvement of social practices be developed? 
Knight Dunlap, “The Foundation of Social Psychology,” 
Psychological Review, Vol. 3, March, 1923, pp. 98-102. 


How can sparks of originality be retained in pupil de- 
velopment? Laura M. Chassell, “Tests for Originality,” 
Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 7, June, 1916, 
pp. 317-28. 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION 399 


42. How can material suitable for use at the different grade 
levels be scientifically selected? J. Carleton Bell and 
Itasca B. Sweet, “The Reading Interests of High School 
Pupils,” Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 7, 
Jan., 1916, pp. 39-45. 


43. Many educators have recognized the importance of emo- 
tional factors. How can emotions be directed? T. B. 
Henry, “The Education and Control of the Emotions,” 
Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 7, Sept., 1917, 
pp. 407-15. 


44. How can sociological principles be applied in classroom 
teaching? David Snedden, “Sociology, A Basie Science 
to Edueation,” Teachers College Record, Vol. 34, March, 
1923, pp. 95-110. 


Other means of stimulating research. There are, besides 
the research bureau, a number of other means for stim- 
ulating research. There is usually in larger cities, 
either as a part of the bureau of research or as an 
independent unit, a psychological clinic. As a further 
means of studying teaching experimentally, some superin- 
tendents have asked for experimental schools. Research 
clubs, teachers meetings, and bulletins are other important 
means of keeping the scientific spirit alive and for dis- 
seminating information about scientific research. The wide- 
awake supervisor will find numerous devices to make super- 
vision more scientific. 

Disseminating information concerning’ scientific re- 
search. Hundreds of investigations are in progress 
throughout the country. Many of these will eventually be 
reported in monographs, bulletins, or other contributions. 
For the most part, these discussions are detailed and tech- 
nical, and the findings and their implications not at all 
obvious. The teacher, with her many responsibilities, finds 
it almost impossible to keep abreast of the progress that is 
being made through such investigations. One of the very 


400 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


real problems of supervision is the careful perusal and 
summarization of this mass of material for classroom use. 
The findings need to be sifted, simplified, and applied to 
classroom problems. Such activities should play a major 
part in the supervisors’ efforts to apply scientific methods 
to the problem of teaching, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


1. Averitu, L. A., and Murtier, A. D., “Size of Class and 
Reading Efficiency,’ Hlementary School Journal, Vol. 25, 
May, 1925, pp. 682-91. 

2. Barr, J. A., “How to Raise the Standards of County Super- 
vision through a Research Department,” Proceedings of the 
National Education Association, Vol. 62, 1924, pp. 693-98. 

3. BALDWIN, Bird T., “Educational Research,’ United States 
Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 42, 1925. 

4. Barr, A. §., “A Plan for Securing the Cooperation of Teach- 
ers in the Improvement of Instruction,” Elementary School 
Journal, Vol. 24, May, 1924, pp. 662-72. 

, “Scientific Analysis of Teaching Procedures,” Journal 

of Educational Method, Vol. 4, May, 1925, pp. 360-71. 

6. Breen, F. S., “Measured Results of Supervised Study,” two 
parts, School Review, Vol. 28, March and April, 1919, pp. 
186-204 and 261-84. A careful authoritative study. 

7. BreuckKner, L. J., “Educational Research in the Minneapolis 
Schools,” Minnesota Society for the Study of Education, 
Proceedings of the Second Annual Conference, 1925. 

8. BuswEtu, G. T., “Application of the Laboratory Method to 
Educational Problems,” Detroit Journal of Education, Vol. 
3, FED. Loass Dae 

9. Courtis, S. A., “The Measurement of Educational Products” 
(General Educational Board, 1919). Excellent discussion 
based on the Gary survey. 

10. DerrensAuGH, W. S., “Research Bureaus in City School 
Systems,’”’ United States Bureau of Education, City School 
Leaflet, No. 5, 1923. 

11. Dewey, John, How We Think (D. C. Heath & Co., 1910). 

12. Gray, W. S., “The Diagnostic Study of an Individual Case in 





13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


Lhe 


18. 
ie 


20. 


21. 
22. 
23. 


24. 


25. 
26. 


Abe 


28. 


29. 


RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION 401 


Reading,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 21, April, 1921, 
pp. 577-94. 

Heck, H. W., A Study of Mental Fatigue (Richmond, Vir- 
einian aces. DellsCo., 1923), 

HeErrineG, J. P., “Educational Control by Means of a New 
Type of Measurement,” Journal of Educational Method, 
Vol. 4, Nov., 1924, pp. 94-102. 

Intow, H. E., “Bureaus of Research in City School Systems,” 
School Board Journal, Vol. 67, Oct., 1923, pp. 48 ff. Brief 
note on place and functions of bureaus then in existence. 

JEVONS, W. S8., Principles of Science (The Macmillan Co., 
1900), pp. 510-13. 

Jupp, C. H., “Analyses of Learning Processes and Specific 
Teaching,” Hlementary School Journal, Vol. 21, May, 1921, 
pp. 655-64. 

LANGLOIS, C. V., and SrraNozos, Charles, Introduction to the 
Study of History (Henry Holt & Co., 1912). 

McCatt, William A., How to Experiment in Education (The 
Maemillan Co., 1923). 

NEWLON, Jesse H., “Report of the Commission on the Codr- 
dination of Research,” Proceedings of the National Educa- 
tion Association, Vol. 60, 1922, pp. 317-22. 

Prarson, Karl, The Grammar of Science (Adam and Charles 
Black, London, 1911). 

Pryser, Nathan, “The Experimental School,’ Contributions 
to Education, Vol. 1, edited by J. Carleton Bell. 

RANKIN, Paul, “The Statistical Method,” Detroit Journal of 
Education, Vol. 3, Feb., 1923. 

, “How an Instructional Research Department Can 
Assist Teachers,” Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 8, 
Oct., 1923. 

Reavis, W. C., “Habits of Study of Grade Pupils,” EHle- 
mentary School Journal, Vol. 19, Oct., 1911, pp. 398-405. 
Rickarp, C. E., “Students’ Description of their Methods of 
Study,” School Review, Vol. 22, Dec., 1914, pp. 673-77. 
Stmpson, Mabel, E., “The Development of Standards in 
Reading an Important Function of Supervision,” Journal 

of Educational Method, Vol. 2, June, 1923, pp. 420-29. 

SmitH, Nila B., “Experiment to Determine the Effectiveness 
of the Detroit Standard Practice Tests in Reading,” De- 
troit Journal of Education, Vol. 1, June, 1922, pp. 48-49. 

STEVENSON, P. R., “Smaller Classes or Larger, A Study of 





402 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


the Relation of Class Size to Efficiency of Teaching” (Pub- 
lic School Publishing Co., 1923). 

30. THomson, J. Arthur, Introduction to Science (Henry Holt 
& Co., 1911). 

31. Trow, W. Clark, Scientific Method in Education (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1925). 

32. Westaway, F. W., Scientific Method; Its Philosophy and 
Practice (London, Blackie & Son, 3d ed., 1919). 


CHAPTER XI 


GENERAL DEVICES FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHERS IN 
SERVICE 


‘*T’ve taught the sixth grade for four years now, but do 
you know that even yet I find a point or two that I must 
look up.’’ Thus spoke an enthusiastic and earnest but 
wholly untrained teacher. Her principal exchanged 
glances with the supervisor who was present, and later these 
two put their heads together to plan a campaign to educate 
this teacher away from the view implied in her remark, 
namely that she had learned nearly all there was to know 
about teaching. Suggestions were made, readings and 
reports of other teachers’ experiences were called to her 
attention. As a matter of fact, a great number of things 
were suggested. The teacher noticed that something was 
up. She was at first somewhat irritated, and almost be- 
wildered at the complexity of teaching which she had con- 
sidered so simple. If she had been articulate, she would 
doubtless have rephrased her original remark, ‘‘I’ve taught 
the sixth grade for four years now, but do you know that 
even yet I find only a point or two here and there of which 
Iam really sure. I find that I must be constantly looking 
things up to keep even partially abreast the times.’’ The 
campaign bore fruit. The teacher was helped to a broader 
view of her work. Perhaps most important of all, she was 
led to see in teaching a constant challenge to growth and 
progress. 

This is a typical illustration of the improvement of teach- 
ers in service. It deals with an individual but the prin- 

403 


404. THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


ciples involved are applicable to larger programs directed 
at the improvement of groups of teachers. A series of com- 
plicated and difficult problems, however, confront the super- 
visor who attempts such programs. In the following pages 
we shall attempt to set forth the principles, problems, and 
devices involved in the general improvement of teachers. 
Supervision has as great a contribution to make in general 
improvement of teachers as it has in the specific improve- 
ment of teaching as set forth in the preceding pages. 

In many places this work is well organized and much 
real benefit is being derived by teachers. In other places, 
however, there is lack of interest and the whole matter is 
neglected. This neglect is all the more regrettable in view 
of the fact that there is a well-organized literature of 
theory, practice, and results in existence. 

Should teachers be expected to improve in service? 
Occasionally one meets teachers, principals, or supervisors 
who question the desirability of further training of teachers 
jn service. There are, however, several good reasons for 
directing attention to the problem, chief among which are 
the following: 


1. The standards for professional training of teachers in 
America, despite the excellent progress which has been made, are 
still absurdly low. 

2. Teaching procedures, because of the rapid development of 
education, are rapidly changing. Even though the teacher may 


have had fairly adequate training a few years ago, she needs to © 


renew constantly this training in the light of the more recent de- 
velopments in educational science. 

3. Experience to be most valuable must be analyzed experi- 
ence. It is not the number of years of experience which counts, 
but the number of years of analyzed experience. One of the 
chief objects of the training of teachers in service is the develop- 
ment of an analytical attitude toward their own teaching pro- 
cedures. 


Other reasons could be cited. It is true that there is no 


GENERAL DEVICES 405 


teacher at present, nor is there likely to be for a long time 
any teacher who is so expert and so well trained that she 
cannot profit by some of the improvement devices. In prac- 
tically every state in the Union some phase of improvement 
work is required. The number and kind of requirements is 
steadily growing. Some of these requirements are embodied 
in. state certificate laws, others in county standards, others 
in the by-laws and teachers’ contracts of boards of educa- 
tion in large cities. Many teachers codperate enthusias- 
tically with such requirements, but there is a large group, 
the members of which object, sometimes loudly and strenu- 
ously, to any and all requirements which take their time 
for meetings, lectures, correspondence or summer-school 
courses, ete. 

Objections to required work. Objectors can be divided 
roughly into three groups. First, are those who would be 
glad to profit by meetings, lectures, and courses in educa- 
tion, but who are disgusted with the poor presentation of 
materials. Part of the same group objects to attending 
meetings at which the work is adapted only to a part of 
the group present. Obviously, primary teachers waste 
their time in attending meetings devoted to upper-grade 
methods, no matter how good the material, and how good 
the presentation. 

A second group of objectors includes those teachers of 
fair training and experience who feel that they are good 
teachers and who resent any suggestion that their educa- 
tion, general or special, may be improved. This group is 
usually a problem to the supervisor because many of the 
individuals in it are really good teachers and are sincere 
in their belief that their teaching and preparation are satis- 
factory. Frequently the teacher’s academic training is 
good, but she has little or no professional training. Or the 
teacher’s professional training, good in its day, merely may 
be out of date. It is only with the utmost tact that the 


406 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


supervisor can bring such teachers to see the need of fur- 
ther training and growth. 

The third group is made up of that minority of teachers 
found everywhere who are not interested in teaching and 
do not care who knows it. They begin work when the bell 
rings, drop it at the first opportunity, and are proud of the 
fact that they do not think of their pupils between sessions, 
or talk shop on social occasions. They make every effort to 
conceal the fact that they are teachers. They scoff at and 
object violently to outside work. The only treatment suit- 
able for this group is elimination. 

Meeting the objections. Most of the legitimate objections 
to training programs would disappear if proper application 
of the principle of individual differences were made. Train- 
ing in service should not be required indiscriminately of 
all teachers. Teachers differ as do pupils, in native ability, 
in training, in special interest, ete. Such factors might 
well be taken into consideration in planning improvement 
work. 

Various classifications of the teaching staff have been 
proposed, all of them valuable in that they focus attention 
upon the different levels of training and ability. The in- 
ferences for training in service are obvious. On this point 
Cubberley says: 1 


Except in cities where the best of standards for the selection 
of teachers have long prevailed, the principal will be fortunate 
if he finds a teaching force twenty-five per cent of which are 
really superior teachers—teachers who are well trained, ambitious 
and capable, who know what to do and why and how, and who 
will need but little help from a principal other than inspiration 
to do still better work. He will also be fortunate if not more 
than twenty-five per cent of his teachers are not either beginners 
who probably will need much help, or older teachers who have 
become set in partially wrong ways and are in consequence some- 





1E. P. Cubberley, The Principal and His School (Houghton Mifflin 
Co., 1923), p. 459. 


GENERAL DEVICES 407 


what ineffective. Some of the older ones will be willing to do 
better work, if shown a better way; some, on the contrary, will 
be so set that they will be unwilling to change their ways or to 
make any effort at improvement. Something like fifty per cent 
of his force he may expect to belong to the fair-average type of 
teachers—teachers who do fairly satisfactory work, but who do 
not rise to any large conception of the possibilities of their work, 
or attain to any high degree of teaching skill. Though standards 
as to training are constantly improving, the bulk of the teach- 
ing in our schools will still for some time probably have to be 
done by this fair-average type of teachers. Many of this type 
ean be changed by helpful advice and education into better 
teachers; a few will not improve much even though they may 
seem to try. 

It is with such types of teachers that a principal will have to 
work, and working through them do his work. He can do much 
to help them and make their work more attractive to them, though 
it will not be wholly by classroom supervision that he will ac- 
complish the results he desires. The human factor will count 
for much. His interest in his problems, his energy and zeal 
for his work, his orderly habits, his businesslike attitude, his 
sense of humor, his appreciation of the human side of life, his un- 
derstanding and sympathy, his kindliness and courtesy, his own 
desire for growth, his working philosophy of the educational 
process, his practical knowledge, and his ability to lead without 
driving—all will be important factors in moulding his teachers, 
in improving their methods, and in inspiring them with a larger 
vision of the importance of the work they do. 


A similar but somewhat more explicit classification is 
made by Miss Imboden, supervisor in Decatur, IJlinois: ? 


1. Superior teachers with adequate training needing no stimu- 
lation but their own ideals, the appreciation and recogni- 
tion of their own successful efforts. 

2. Successful experienced teachers of native ability who lack 
the requisite professional training. This group may be 
divided into two classes: 

(a) Conservative and slow in accepting changes in 
method. 


2 Sarah M. Imboden, ‘‘ At Work,’’ Journal of Educational Method, 
Vol. 3, Sept., 1923, p. 28. 


408 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


(6b) Eager to know the new in education and greatly de- 
sirous of growth. 
3. Professionally trained with successful experience but new 
to the system. 
4. Professionally trained but their first year of service. ° 
5. Poorly trained and inexperienced. 


Roughly and in general, it is fair to say that the normal 
graduate, that is, the new or inexperienced teacher, is able 
to organize lessons and to find an average amount of sub- 
ject matter. In the application, somewhat formally, it is 
true, of special devices she is also fairly proficient. But in 
the technique of the drill lesson, in aiding pupils to study, 
in finding supplementary material, in discipline, the inex- 
perienced teacher often needs definite help such as can be 
given through one or other of the devices suggested for 
training in service. She knows something of certain teach- 
ing techniques but has not reduced them to the habit basis. 
These young teachers are somewhat familiar with new de- 
partures in education and are usually open-minded. The 
problem of aiding them is not difficult, being one of deter- 
mining the specific need and directing them to the proper 
source of guidance. 

On the other hand, the expert teacher of excellent train- 
ing and of long analyzed experience should not be held for 
slavish attendance at meetings designed for the novice. 
This teacher should be directed to those phases of training 
which will broaden her already good general education and 
which will increase her professional knowledge and skill to 
the point of more profitable leadership in the teaching pro- 
fession. The road to research and experimental study of 
the problems of teaching should be open to such a teacher. 
Frequent opportunities should come to her to assist in 
training less mature groups, in leading discussion, in dem- 
onstrations, and the like. When meetings are planned, they 
should be for groups of similar training and experience to 


GENERAL DEVICES 409 


the end that the time may be spent most profitably. Most 
teachers will fall somewhere between the two extremes of 
maturity and experience and need to be dealt with accord- 
ingly. 

The supervisor should exert every effort to bring all 
teachers to a realization of the need for training and the 
possibility of continuous growth. Teachers of fair ability 
but who do not progress must come to understand that they 
eannot expect advance in rank of salary. Those who begin 
to show a tendency to drop back must be required to take 
additional training and show the benefits of it, or they must 
be eliminated. 

As has been stated, some phase of this work is required 
practically everywhere. However, the supervisor will get 
much better results by so administering it as to invite vol- 
untary cooperation first, reserving the club of requirement 
as a last resort in extreme cases. The adaptation to ind1- 
vidual differences discussed above is a valuable device in 
obtaining codperation. The time element should be taken 
into consideration and teachers excused from other duties 
or allowance of some kind made for the extra work. In 
some places the merit system of promotion is used and in- 
cludes, as one element, additional preparation. Though 
there are some important drawbacks to the merit system, 
it is worthy of a trial. A salary bonus or expense money 
is often given for summer-school work. Sometimes teachers 
who have shown themselves unusually proficient and who 
have taken advanced work in administration and supervi- 
sion can be given a voice in determining policy. Encour- 
agement of, and giving opportunity for, experimental work 
is always a valuable device in improving teachers in service. 
The personality of the supervisor, the kind of lecturers or 
group leaders obtained, the type and diversity of work avail- 
able are all important features in attracting teachers to 
outside work and in overcoming their objections to it. 


410 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Partial list of activities. The opportunities for train- 
ing teachers in service vary widely. The commonest means 
are probably teachers’ meetings, demonstration teaching, 
directed observation, summer schools in connection with 
normal schools and colleges, and extension courses. In addi- 
tion, there are the less elaborate devices, such as reading 
circles, the reading of professional magazines, the circula- 
tion of local bulletins, lyceums, intervisitation, social gath- 
ering’, ete. 

Teachers’ meetings. Teachers’ meetings are of various 
kinds and ean be grouped roughly as follows: (1) general 
faculty meetings attended by all teachers in a building or 
district; (2) grade meetings attended by the teachers work- 
ing in one grade only; (3) intergrade meetings attended by 
the teachers of two or three adjacent grades; (4) depart- 
mental meetings attended by the teachers of the same sub- 
ject; (5) conventions or associations. 

Organization and administration of meetings. Care must 
be exercised in the administration of these meetings. They 
will not only fail of their purpose, but will engender a bad 
attitude toward them on the part of teachers if this is not 
done. Cubberley cleverly summarizes the types of meetings 
to avoid, in a discussion which is well worth reading: ? 


1. The bulletin-board type 

2. The grievance day type 

3. The grumbling type 

4. The lecture-by-the-principal type 
5. The routine business type 


The following points may be of assistance in organizing 
meetings, large or small: 

1. The topic, or series of topics, should deal with live 
issues with which the group is vitally concerned. It is usu- 


3K. P. Cubberley, The Principal and His School (Houghton Mifflin 
Co., 1923), pp. 514-16. 


GENERAL DEVICES 411 


ally well to limit the field for the semester or year to a few 
problems so that results may be accomplished. 

2. Invite and secure teacher-participation im planning 
and administering meetings. 

3. A mimeographed brief should be mailed out mn advance 
to those who will be present. The brief may consist of an 
outline of what is to be done, a set of theses to be defended 
by the speaker, a lesson plan for a piece of demonstration 
teaching, or a set of standards for judging the teaching. 
Some kind of an outline is really necessary if any thoughtful 
reaction is to be made by the audience. For instance, the 
following paragraph is found in an outline mailed out to 
teachers by J. H. Binford, Assistant Superintendent of 
Schools in Richmond, Virginia. 


I am sending with this notice an outline giving what appears 
to be the important topics to be taught in pp. 1-13 of the text. 
All teachers are requested to study this outline carefully. The 
following teachers are requested to tell how this outline differs 
from their way of teaching these pages. 


ABT UNCLE Oe ee er Madison School 
ee een OV, sly ries «lb 0 9 puma e Cary School 
DEIR CRUOLE Fae ein eka cl tle's « dee oss Thorpe School 
Miser AWK Is ui 2s ss ss Bellevue Junior High School 


Likewise the following paragraphs from an outline issued 
by Miss Lucy 8. Saunders, elementary-school supervisor in 
Norfolk, Virginia. 


The teachers of the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades will report 
to the rooms as indicated above. They will bring with them, to 
be placed in the hands of the Secretary, written reports of criti- 
cisms and contributions to the Health Work as requested in the 
letter included in outlines distributed at the general meeting in 
January. 

A representative of the English Committee will, at this time, 
place in the hands of the teachers certain English work to which 
it is necessary that reactions of the group be given in order to 


412 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


conclude effectively the program for the year. Therefore, each 
teacher is urged to be present and on time—3: 45 P.M. 


Another excellent illustration is from a bulletin issued 
by Miss Olive Gray, Assistant Superintendent of Hutchin- 
son, Kansas. 


General Topic: 
What knowledge of number and of language should our second- 
grade pupils possess? How can we best secure it? 


In Case You Want to Think: 

Observe your room to see what opportunities could naturally 
be afforded for pupils to use number and quantity in concrete 
situations of school and home life? 

What fractions do your pupils encounter outside of number 
classes? How do they respond to them? 

What projects and what games have you used successfully in 
teaching numbers? 

What kinds of non-recitation period work with numbers, or 
involving the use of numbers are you supplied with? What do 
you think of its value? What other kinds do you think might 
be very helpful? How do you manage such work? 

Consider the attainments in number that are provided for in 
the Hutchinson Course of Study for your grade: What ones 
are too high? Too low? What needs to be added? Should 
anything be taken out? 

If you can, bring one suggestion for economizing time and 
for affording all pupils of varying needs and abilities the larg- 
est possible amount of performance during the recitation period 
in numbers. 


In Case You Want to Read Up: 
Hutchinson Course of Study in numbers for second grade. 
Eighteenth Yearbook, Part II, chapter on “Principles of 
Method in Teaching Arithmetic.” 
Milwaukee, ‘Projects and Games in Primary Grades.” 
McLaughlin-Trexell, “Number Projects for Beginners.” 


4, Only those teachers vitally interested should be asked 
to attend. 


GENERAL DEVICES 413 


5. A summary of the discussion which took place at 
the meeting might be prepared and. sent to those who at- 
tended. 

6. Provision should be made for the expression of opinion 
from the audience. Teachers must have an opportunity to 
ask questions if they are to profit by the meetings. Dis- 
cussion should be stimulated by direct questions from the 
leader if it is slow in starting. 

7. The meeting may be wm charge of a superintendent, 
principal, or supervisor or outside speaker who 1s not only 
expert in the subject under discussion but who also has the 
gift of popular exposition. Many men of undoubted schol- 
arship are unable to make intelligible presentations of in- 
terest to an audience of teachers, whereas others who have no 
patience for research are admirably fitted to explain clearly 
what the scholar has discovered. Cubberley advises keeping 
the meetings within the group as arule. This insures local 
emphasis and practical application. He feels that teachers 
have enough opportunity in other ways to hear outside 
speakers and that their meetings can better be used for 
their own work. 

8. The meeting should be thoroughly planned and admin- 
istered. The meeting must not degenerate into pointless, 
boresome discussion, or into a desultory talk-fest. Neither 
the speaker on the platform nor a member of the audience 
has the right to make long digressions or to raise irrelevant 
questions. This fault is one very commonly complained of 
by teachers. There should be a time limit on the meet- 
ing, the discussion should be kept moving, and a summary 
made. 3 

9. Meetings should not be used for routine administrative 
purposes. This point deserves double emphasis. Hosic has 
somewhere characterized certain meetings as mere ‘‘guard 
mounts for the reception of general orders.’’ Superintend- 
ents, supervisors, and principals manifest a crude disregard 


414 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


for teachers’ rights and a lack of appreciation of time value 
when they summon a great number of people together 
merely to hand them copies of courses of study, lists of 
rules, or to discuss matters of concern only to a few and 
which should be handled by committees. The mail will do 
many of these services much more expeditiously. 

10. Teachers’ meetings should not as a rule be held after 
school, when time is short and every one is tired. If pos- 
sible also Monday and Friday should be avoided. School 
may be dismissed early or an occasional evening may be 
taken. This isa difficult point, and no satisfactory solution 
seems yet to have emerged. It has been suggested by some 
that one of the best things that could happen to the teach- 
ing profession would be the inauguration of a Saturday 
morning school for teachers. 

11. The meeting should end with a summary, plus a look 
to the future. It should not merely come to an end. The 
problem may be restated, progress already made outlined, 
and important discussion for the next meeting stated. 

The institute. The supervisor will probably have little 
opportunity to aid in organizing teachers’ associations and 
conventions, with the exception of the type known as the 
institute. The institute is held with few exceptions in every 
county in every state in the country and is, in consequence, 
the best-known professional meeting. Attendance is com- 
pulsory, which means that practically every teacher is 
reached. Much good is undoubtedly accomplished, but it 
must be admitted that a remarkably large number of 
teachers dislike the institute. Some administrative officers 
refuse to admit that this condition exists, but unbiased ex- 
amination will quickly demonstrate that it does. In view 
of the universality of the institute, its great opportunity for 
benefit, the manifest dislike and objection voiced by many 
teachers, this device for improving teachers in service 
should be carefully scrutinized. 


GENERAL DEVICES 415 


In an excellent discussion of the institute, Miss Georgiana 
Lommen says: * 


During the present decade general dissatisfaction has been ex- 
pressed with the purpose, the conduct, and the lack of practical 
bearing upon results in classroom practice on the part of the 
teachers’ institutes. It is urged by those who express this dis-. 
satisfaction that the agency is an anachronism which has been 
displaced by the more adequate professional training provided 
by normal schools and later by expert supervision in the several 
states. However, with one-half of the nation’s teachers equipped 
with less than a four-year high-school course, one-tenth of the 
rural teachers having had nothing more than the completion of 
the eighth grade, but two per cent of them normal-school grad- 
uates, and only one-tenth of one per cent with special training 
for rural teaching, this argument against the necessity for the 
continuance of the institute is not valid at this time. 


In another valuable but somewhat older discussion, 
Reudiger and other writers discuss the institute: ° 


If these arraignments of institutes were isolated examples, they 
might be passed by unnoticed, but of late years expressions of a 
similar nature have become sufficiently frequent to arrest at- 
tention. The feeling is beginning to spread that institutes have 
served their usefulness and should be discontinued. 

It is no doubt true that institutes, as they are still usually 
conducted, are anachronisms.... 

The fact is that the institute as we have it at present is a fossil. 
. . . There is scarcely anything less pedagogical than the work 
of an ordinary institute. 


It is well for all concerned to be aware of some of the 
reasons why institutes are so favorably regarded in certain 
quarters. Says Seerley: ® 


4Georgiana Lommen, ‘‘The Teachers’ Institute as an Agency for 
Training Teachers in Service,’’? Journal of Rural Education, Vol. 1, 
Oct., 1921, p. 60. 

5 United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 3, 1911, p. 31. 

6 Ibid., p. 31. 


416 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


There is no doubt that the institute system managed by specially 
competent people has been a benefit, but... the constant 
change of county superintendents, the introduction of new and 
inexperienced instructors, the rise and fall of State superinten- 
dents ... has kept the institute system magnified and glorified 
from year to year. . 

The actual results claimed are... usually greatly overesti- 
mated by those who conduct institutes. Their enthusiasm directs 
their judgment, they accept appearance as results ... assume 
work specially effective and positively permanent. They have 
no definite way of determining the facts, or to summarize teacher 
opinion, and the estimates made are often more or less visionary 
and unreliable. Those who follow the business of conducting 
these annual assemblies, whose vocation depends on the system 
and who are firm believers in the system, more because they do 
not know anything better to do, than because of its real efficiency 
or excellence, could hardly be supposed to be unprejudiced wit- 
nesses. 


Miss Lommen makes the following sharp comment on this 
situation : 7 


It is most interesting to note after the above summary of facts 
the psychological frame of mind toward the institute on the part 
of those responsible for the reports. Of the thirty states re- 
quiring the institute by law, twelve report the demand for the 
the institute as steady in the past five years, eight states report 
the demand increasing, and eight states report the demand de- 
ereasing. In the group of states making the agency possible 
by law, one state reports the demand steady, five states report 
the demand increasing, and two states report the demand as de- 
creasing. These facts indicate the teachers’ institute as a train- 
ing agency of steadily increasing serviceability, a very surpris- 
ing report in the face of currently expressed criticisms. 


Institutes may be wmproved. The first step in bettering 
these meetings is to gain a clear understanding of their his- 
tory and purpose. Quoting Reudiger again: * 





7 Georgiana Lommen, op. cit., p. 65. 
8 United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 3, 1911, p. 32. 


GENERAL DEVICES AIT 


To rail against institutes in a general way does little good. 
What is needed is an adequate conception of their nature and 
then it may be possible to infer something in regard to their 
destiny. The beginning of institutes and the displacement of 
teachers’ conventions by them are of interest in this connection 
because these data seem to give us the key to the ultimate out- 
come of institutes. 

The typical teachers’ institute at one and the same time serves 
(1) as a professional training schdol for teachers; (2) as a 
teachers’ meeting in which the appointed authorities acquaint the 
teachers with the educational policies of the State and county, 
and with what is new and inspiring in educational thought; and 
(3) as a teachers’ convention or association, whose purpose is 
largely social. If we are to gain an adequate conception of 
institutes and their function, we must treat these three aspects 
separately, and if institutes are ever to reach a stable footing, 
they must differentiate themselves into these three distinct insti- 
tutions. This means, of course, that the traditional institute will 
disappear, at least in substance if not in name, and that it will 
be replaced by summer normals, by official county and district 
teachers’ meetings, and by voluntary county and district teachers’ 
associations. 


Quoting from Miss Lommen’s study again: ® 


Functions of Institute Rated. The study made provision for 
securing a definition of the fundamental character of the work 
now being undertaken by the institutes. The comparative rat- 
ings of the six most commonly accepted functions rated by forty 
state administrations arrange themselves in the following de- 
scending eva:uations: 


1. To give instructions in methods of teaching 

2. To inspire professional idealism 

3. To develop esprit de corps 

4. To provide local administrative and supervisory forces with 
opportunity to promote and unify local plans for the 
educational program of the year 

5. To acauaint the local teaching body with the progressive 
tendercies in elementary education as shown by the scien- 
tific investigation of educational leaders 

6. To give instruction in subject matter 


9 Georgiana Lommen, op. ctt., p. 67. 


418 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


It is interesting to observe that, with the exception of the 
emphasis given to instruction in special methods of teaching, the 
original functions of the institute, namely, of actual instruction 
in subject matter and stimulation to self-improvement, have given 
way to the more ephemeral functions of inspiring to idealism 
and esprit de corps. Granted that professional idealism and 
esprit de corps are prime essentials in any program for educa- 
tional progress, the comparatively high value set upon their 
functional character clearly affords a justification for one of 
the most outstanding criticisms of the present organization of 
the teachers’ institute, its failure to function in practical results 
in the classroom. 


Here and there about the country the institutes are tend- 
ing toward the two- or three-week sessions during the sum- 
mer, thus approximating the older teachers’ gatherings 
which they originally displaced. As yet, however, this is 
rare. Of these institutes Strayer says: 7° 


Institutes were once looked upon as places where teachers came 
to be entertained, or possibly, to be inspired. There was a time 
when the best institutes were conducted on the “pouring in” 
plan. A lecturer, or several lecturers, dispensed the truth, and 
teachers sat in their places, supposedly drinking deep draughts 
from these fountains of wisdom. It is strange that all of the 
theory of teaching which was dispensed did not suggest that the 
manner of conducting the institute was wrong. In our best 
institutes to-day teachers participate in discussion, study and 
recite from books, undertake the revision or oryanization of 
course of study in codperation with their supervisors; in short, 
the institute has become a school for professional study. In 
such an institute, as in teachers’ meetings, those who come with 
real problems, anxious to get help, fizd the week or two all too 
short. A group of teachers anxious to grow professionally can, 
in most cases, secure the codperation of supervisors in trans- 
forming an institute which is organized on the old besis. 


The voluntary teachers’ asociations, state county, and 


10 From G. D. Strayer, Brief Course in the Travning Process, p. 230. 
Reprinted by permission of the Macmillan Co., publishers. 


GENERAL DEVICES 419 


city organizations have made great progress and are doing 
much of the training work once handled by the institute. 

The growth of summer normal work for teachers has been 
phenomenal and needs no further comment. There is noth- 
ing unfair or undemocratic in a requirement that all teach- 
ers in a county attend summer school or do other work de- 
pending on the type of certificate they hold and the experi- 
ence they have had. Such a requirement affecting each 
teacher, every second or third summer, in some cases every 
summer, might materially cut down the amount of training 
in service now necessary. 

Probably the most widespread and successful variation 
‘of the original institute idea is to have much more frequent 
meetings for shorter periods of time. Many cities and 
counties now meet several Saturdays through the year in- 
stead of for three or four days at one time. These meet- 
ings are carefully prepared for, scheduled well in advance, 
and are doing much practical and worth-while work. 

Miss Harris, a supervisor at Rochester, describes (Pro- 
ceedings of the National Educational Association, 1906, 
page 120) a plan followed out largely by means of which 
five one-day teachers’ institutes are held with the teachers 
of each grade each year, using the state teachers’ institute 
time, and reducing the teachers’ meetings after school, to a 
minimum. Such a plan is more applicable to a large city 
than to a small one. 

The following suggestions may be of assistance In organ- 
izing institutes or teachers’ gatherings: | 

1. Recognize clearly the distinctly different functions of 
an institute. The following facts from Miss Lommen’s 
study are of interest : 1? 


~The reports indicate that of the entire group only sixteen 
states provide differentiated programs for the trained and un- 


11 Georgiana Lommen, op. cit., p. 62. 


420 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


trained attendants; all other states provide only programs of a 
general character and interest. It appears, then, that this prac- 
tice justified one of the current objections made to one phase 
of the institute conduct. It is ever difficult to enlist the sus- 
tained interest and attention of teachers to a prolonged meeting 
based on generalizations. 


2. Provide definitely and methodically for these different 
functions. Do not obtain an indiscriminate group of speak- 
ers, set the date, gather the teachers, mix, and trust in 
Providence for results. 

3. Obtain speakers of two distinct types. (a) Those who 
can present clearly and logically, as well as inspirationally, 
the relation of the teacher to the issues of the day, the prob- 
lems of the profession, ete. (6) Those who ean present con- 
crete illustrations of pedagogical theory. These individuals 
must be artistic teachers and gifted with clear exposition. 
They must be able to answer questions and conduct discus- 
sions. 

In regard to the first type of speaker, remember that 
great scholars are not always great speakers. In regard to 
the second, that one who has been ‘‘a successful teacher for 
twenty-two years’’ isnot necessarily a good expositor. They 
are often not even good teachers. 

4. Make definte and intelligent provision for the social 
side of the meeting. Cooperate with the local parent-teach- 
ers’ association, the commercial club, the country club, or 
the automobile elub, if such organizations exist. In small 
towns this phase presents a real problem. Probably a good 
lecturer of the Chautauqua type on some nonprofessional 
subject should be provided for one or two talks. A dinner, 
party, reception, dance, or some kind of social gathering 
should be provided and real effort made to see that it is 
worth while. The usual ‘‘reception’’ held during the aver- 
age institute is one of the best reasons for abolishing insti- 
tutes. 


GENERAL DEVICES 421 


5. Consult the teaching body in advance about the speak- 
ers and topics. A questionnaire can be mimeographed and 
sent out early enough so that an institute can be organized 
in terms of the real needs of a majority of those who will 
be present. All problems cannot be considered, of course, 
but those mentioned oftenest can undoubtedly be included. 
I remember one convention of about two thousand members 
that was divided into ten departmental meetings for one 
afternoon. It was thought that the attendance would be 
about evenly distributed, but over eighteen hundred of the 
two thousand tried to attend one of the departmental sec- 
tions. Undoubtedly this convention consulted in advance 
would have asked for several speakers and demonstrations 
of the topic they tried to see. 

In Miss Simpson’s opinion: 2? 


One reason why the institute has not been more beneficial to 
teachers is because teachers themselves have had very little to do 
with the selection of problems to be discussed or any direct 
participation in the program itself. 

Early in the spring of 1922 each principal was asked to report 
any suggestions made by his teachers concerning changes and 
improvements desired in the program for the Fall Institute. 
(The data submitted in answer to this request was voluminous 
and the supervisory staff put much time in working it over.) 


Superintendent Hall of Wood County, Ohio, gathers 
regularly the suggestions of his teachers and principals re- 
garding programs for institutes and teachers’ meetings. 
These are reported in writing and in so far as possible are 
used in making up the programs. 

Miss Lommen reports: 7° 


State versus Local Direction. Twelve state departments re- 


-12 Mabel E. Simpson, ‘‘The Institute as a Means of Codperative 
Supervision,’’? Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 2, Sept., 1922, 


pp. 2-8. 
13 Georgiana Lommen, op. cit., pp. 65-66. 


422 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


port the formulation of the institute programs in the state office 
and their appleation uniformly throughout the state; twenty-one 
state departments solicit and prefer suggestions from county 
superintendents and supervisors as to local needs. Only four of 
the entire number reporting make provision for progressive 
units of work arranged on the rotation plan and covering several 
seasons. Intensive work on one or two subjects for one year, with 
a careful comparison and checking of results in the follow-up 
work has much to commend its consideration and is a present 
deficiency of the institute work which needs constructive attack. 
The three-year schedule of one state concentrated effort on 
geography, nature study, and their allied arts during the first 
year; the second year’s institutes spent their entire time on his- 
tory, civics, and health; and the third year was given over to 
English and penmanship. This plan effectively meets the eriti- 
cism so often advanced, the lack of unity and singleness of pur- 
pose in the character of programs provided for experienced 
teachers especially. ... 

Teacher Participation.—In response to the inquiries as to the 
character and to the degree of teacher initiative and participation 
in the conduct of the institute, the investigation bears out a justi- 
fication for one of the most fundamental criticisms of the present 
institute work, namely, that teacher participation in the definition 
of aims, purposes, activities, and achievements has been of minor 
character. Eight states report participation on the part of local 
teachers in the consideration of time and place of meeting and 
in the suggestion of problems for attack. Seven states indicate 
that local teachers have opportunity to express a choice as to 
instructors and the nature of the problems to be considered; thir- 
teen states report some form of committee activity of a sort, but 
no state specifies the organization of committees for the investi- 
gation of curriculum problems, the standardization of materials 
and methods, interpretation of standard test and measurement 
results, or the organization of local groups for purposes of study 
and discussion of professional problems. The vital character of 
the above problems makes them worthy of the agents most inti- 
mately concerned with their adoption and development. Obvi- 
ously, the absence of teacher responsibility and participation in 
these respects has greatly affected the desultory application of 
the fundamental principles developed during the session, for 
from few sources did we receive commendable reports on the 
character and quality of follow-up results of the institute work. 


GENERAL DEVICES 423 


6. Get the reactions of the teachers afterwards. Do not 
gather the enthusiastic statements made in the presence of 
the speakers and often in the hearing of administrative 
officers responsible for the meeting. Ask for specific writ- 
ten statements to be attached to the next monthly report. 
These reports should include reasons for approving the 
general speakers, should cite specific applications from the 
special sections, and make definite criticisms and sugges- 
tions for next year. 

This somewhat extended treatment of institutes has been 
given because, as has been stated, they involve the expendi- 
ture of much time and money, they reach all teachers, and 
they should be made into effective instruments of teacher 
training or supplanted by better agencies. Supervisors will 
have a hand in organizing and administering these meetings, 
and are thus given a golden opportunity to make them 
effective and economical means of attaining the desired 
ends. The same principles apply also to other teachers’ 
professional meetings. 

Topics for teachers’ meetings, institutes, conventions, 
etc. The following discussion of material suitable for 
teachers’ meetings will be carried on in terms of the smaller 
faculty and grade mectings. The principles involved can 
be adapted easily to larger gatherings. It should be re- 
emphasized here that all suggestions are qualified by the 
principle of individual differences. Topics and demonstra- 
tions are to be presented to only those groups that are inter- 
ested in the particular problem involved. 

It should be strongly emphasized that though the follow- 
ing discussion is perforce general, the application of the 
principles discussed must be specific. Problems discussed 
by teacher groups should be those which actually confront 
them in their own local situation. 

Topic from the field of method. This whole field, general 
and special, will be a prolific source of discussions. Many 


4294 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


teachers still need clear discussions of general principles, 
and all can profit through the analysis of particularly well- 
organized and taught demonstration lessons. Clever drill 
devices can be illustrated and explained. The project 
method could well occupy a general group for a series of 
meetings. After several meetings devoted to a discussion 
of the underlying principles, the faculty could be divided 
into sections in terms of major interest and take up those 
specific projects fitted to their work. 

Topics related to subject matter. Analysis of the course 
of study, with detailed explanations of problems raised, 
might well occupy a meeting or two for new teachers at the 
beginning of the year. 

The whole field of codperative curriculum building can 
be utilized in providing material for good meetings. Many 
of the larger city systems in the country have done excel- 
lent work in organizing committees of teachers, supervisors, 
and administrators for the revision or complete rewriting 
of the local course of study. The work of Los Angeles and 
Denver may well be studied as a type of codperative cur- 
riculum building. 

The selection of new textbooks, the adoption of supple- 
mentary books, and the inspection of any material offered 
for school use are all sources of discussion. Teachers have 
been long neglected in this connection, with the double loss, 
first, of training in service to them, and second, of much 
expert advice to the system. In many places texts and 
other materials are selected largely on the basis of teacher 
judgment. Competent teachers, in close touch with the 
learner, and who ean apply scientific standards, can be of 
material assistance to supervisors in this matter. Texts 
might be distributed and time allowed for careful review, 
after which different opinions might be presented to the 
group. Not only is this a good method of textbook inspec- — 
tion but also a good method of determining a teacher’s : 


GENERAL DEVICES 425 


ability to think. Open discussion should follow such 
presentations. 

Testing and measuring educational results: Individual 
differences. The whole problem of tests and measurements 
should be investigated by teachers. Often many teachers 
will be found who do not know how to use tests or interpret 
the results, and meetings may be held for their benefit. 
Many of the tests are unscientifically prepared, and a dis- 
cussion of scientific method would be valuable. Reports of 
experiments and investigations going on within the system 
er reported in the periodical literature should be presented. 

One of the most important aspects of testing is often over- 
looked or at least slighted, namely, the prescription of 
remedial work based upon the results of diagnostic. testing. 
The problems involved are often intricate and difficult. 
The whole matter may afford an excellent basis for improve- 
ment work. 

Specific problems arising in the field of individual differ- 
ences will be innumerable and will furnish excellent ma- 
terial for training in service activities. The reasons for 
grouping pupils and the evolution of differentiated courses 
ef study to meet the needs of this situation furnish excel- 
lent bases for discussion. The whole question of retarda- 
tion and acceleration can also be treated from another point 
of view, namely, the administrative devices for special help 
or rapid promotion. 

Teacher rating. The elements of teacher-rating scales 
should be made clear to all teachers. The people to whom 
the scales are to be applied should have an opportunity to 
question the validity or fairness of any point involved. 
Much of the dissatisfaction with teacher rating could be 
eliminated if there could be open discussion of the points 
involved, the necessity for rating, the uses of the cards, and 
the abuses and dangers of the proceeding. This very mat- 
ter of improving teachers in service might well be discussed 


496 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


by the people being trained. The interchange of ideas 
where all shades of opinion are expressed will do much to 
show the absurdity of the view that training is no longer 
necessary after a certain period of experience. Valuable 
suggestions as to methods and means of training will also 
be made. 

Topics based upon the general theory of education. A 
field of information that can furnish many beneficial meet- 
ings for interested, competent teachers is that of general 
educational theory, including discussion of supervision, ad- 
ministration, history and philosophy of education, educa- 
tional psychology, ete. Such material has been sadly neg- 
lected because of lack of interest in it and also because of the 
difficulty of obtaining leaders who ean present it in popular 
but correct form. Young teachers and many older ones are 
quite innocent of any understanding of the aim of educa- 
tion or its relation to their specific everyday tasks. It is 
important to obtain speakers who can introduce teachers to 
all the rich and interesting material contained in the his- 
tory and philosophy of education and do it in such way 
that a genuine intellectual interest will be aroused. Of 
even greater importance are some presentations of the mod- 
ern scientific movement in education. New books and maga- 
zine articles dealing with the material mentioned should 
be reported upon briefly and made available for those in- 
terested. 

Conventions, associations, or other gatherings of a profes- 
sional nature that are attended by any member of the su- 
pervisory or teaching staff should be reported for the group. 
Again emphasis must be placed upon choosing delegates 
who can make an intelligent and interesting oral report. 
Outside speakers should be engaged from time to time to 
meet with large or small groups and discuss problems of 
particular interest. 

Teachers’ meetings can also be utilized to organize the 


GENERAL DEVICES 427 


required reading-cirele work around local problems. This 
reading work, often done hurriedly with little real interest, 
can be made to contribute effectively to the teacher’s power 
if it is properly organized. , Another valuable discussion 
of suitable material for teachers’ meetings is to be found 
in Cubberley’s The Principal and His School, page 521. 

Conferences. Closely related to the teachers’ meetings 
just discussed are conferences, usually with one teacher, 
though sometimes including two or three. In such meetings 
the very best supervisory work can be accomplished if 
favorable conditions are provided. There should be the 
freest of discussion upon the specific difficulties of the par- 
ticular teacher. A detailed discussion of this phase of the 
supervisor’s work will be found in Chapter VI. 

Bibliographies. The supervisor should prepare and 
send out from time to time mimeographed or printed lists 
of books and articles dealing with current problems. Spe- 
cial attention should be given to the periodical literature so 
that teachers may be kept in touch easily and economically 
with the latest in the field. 

While the supervisor should urge teachers to subscribe 
for professional magazines or to read them in the libraries, 
it is probably well for him to have a number of them com- 
ing regularly to his office where they can be obtained or 
read by teachers. This is a more efficacious device when 
used by the principal. In this way there is more assurance 
that the magazines will be used. Reading-circle work should 
also be insisted on in some cases, adapting the reading to 
the particular needs of the individual. : 

Gray reports that on visiting a public library he found 
an astonishing lack of books on educational topics. Inves- 
tigation revealed the fact that there was plenty of money 
available for the purchase of such books, but that repeated 
efforts had failed to obtain from the teachers and super- 
visors of the city a list of books they would find useful. 


428 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Supervisors should not allow such a lack of cooperation to 
feature in their relations with the public library. 

Closely related to this is the device of sending out mimeo- 
eraphed outlines of devices or special methods found by the 
supervisor in his visits or in his reading. Unusually good 
lessons, drill devices, or illustrations of skillful disciplinary 
work, ete., are all valuable material for such local bulletins. 
Due eredit should be given to the teacher from whom the 
skillful device or bit of work is secured. 

Demonstration teaching. The efficacy of this device 
was early recognized. Barnard employed a _ successful 
teacher, William G. Baker, to travel from meeting to meet- 
ing in a covered wagon, with his class of twelve children, to 
give demonstration lessons of what was then approved pro- 
cedure. Demonstration lessons involving actual subject 
matter from the course of study and presented by an expert 
are of real assistance. Such lessons may be presented to 
eroups of teachers or individuals. 

The chief purpose of demonstration teaching is to show 
observers ‘‘how to do it’’; to present sound and approved 
methods of procedure, devices, and technique. In so far as 
possible then, demonstration lessons should adhere rather 
closely to ordinary classroom conditions both as to subject 
matter, method, time allowance, and the like. However, a 
very valuable type of demonstration and one which is en- 
tirely legitimate to use, is one which elaborates in detail a 
certain lesson type or procedure. The lesson is polished to 
a degree impossible under ordinary classroom conditions. 
Such lessons are often severely criticized by ‘‘practical’’ 
teachers. Such criticism is mistaken since these elaborate 
and polished presentations are extremely valuable in mak- 
ing very clear and explicit the procedures used. The fact 
that such a lesson is an elaboration of the usual classroom 
procedure should, by all means, be made clear to every one. 
No one expects the average teacher to follow such work in 


GENERAL DEVICES 429 


her everyday teaching, but every teacher can profit by care- 
ful analysis of such ino 

Careful preparation necessary. That the Aenaretnaeee 
teacher should make careful and detailed preparation goes 
without saying. Preparation of the individual or group 
before whom the demonstration is given does not always 
seem to be regarded as so important. It cannot be too 
strongly emphasized, however, that those who are to see the 
work must be most carefully prepared for what they are 
to see, in order that they may observe and react intelli- 
gently. The lesson, its aim, method, and technique should 
be carefully explained in detail. The observer is not so 
likely to be confused and lost, can more easily keep pace 
with the lesson, and can more intelligently comprehend the 
fine points. This ‘‘theoretical rehearsal’’ or ‘‘anticipatory 
planning’’ is an excellent device in learning. The outlines 
and check lists discussed elsewhere in this volume are valu- 
able devices for making clear to observers what they are to 
see. 

Observers should take notes or use check lists. Since the 
lesson must be followed by careful and critical analytic dis- 
cussion, some record of what happened is necessary. Al- 
though it is never good practice to make notes while observ- 
ing an ordinary teacher, demonstration teachers should be 
so expert and poised that this necessary note-taking is re- 
garded simply as a part of the situation. Observers may 
attempt to make a brief running outline of the lesson, 
though this is probably the most difficult. Outlines with 
questions and blank spaces for answering are good. Prob- 
ably the most easily used device is the check list described 
in Chapter V of this volume. These lists should doubtless 
be supplemented with a few more elaborate statements. 
The type of record taken, and its emphasis or lack of em- 
phasis on important points is in itself an excellent index 
of the observer’s ability. 


430 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


The lesson should be followed by thorough discussion. 
Probably the most important element, next to the actual 
teaching skill displayed, is the careful analytic and critical 
discussion which should follow any demonstration lesson. 
The discussion should first establish what did actually hap- 
pen. Observers’ notes will differ remarkably sometimes 
regarding the actual events of the lesson. As soon as the 
sequence of events, the kind of devices and technique used 
is established, the discussion should turn upon an evalua- 
tion of what was done. Criticism, elaborations, questions, 
should be stimulated and discussed. Nutt says:1* ‘‘Such 
intensive practice soon develops keenness of insight, alert- 
ness of recognition, and completeness of comprehension of 
a particular pedagogical situation.’’ The same author gives 
a good summary regarding demonstration teaching : 


Demonstration teaching should have a definite goal. This goal 
should be clearly known by the observers before the performance 
begins. The observers should take careful notes during the per- 
formance. These notes and the performance should be thoroughly 
discussed with the observers by the demonstrator, after the per- 
formance is complete. 


Emergency demonstration. Nutt designates as emer- 
gency demonstrations those situations in which the super- 
visor takes the class from the teacher and proceeds with 
the lesson. It goes without saying that such a procedure 
should be used only rarely. As Nutt’s terminology indi- 
cates, only a real emergency should demand such action on 
the part of the supervisor. Three cases can be distin- 
euished. 

1. The situation in which the pupils are not learning and 
in which the teacher is not learning how to help pupils 
learn. 


14H. W. Nutt, The Supervision of Instruction (Houghton Mifflin 
Co., 1920), p. 142. 


GENERAL DEVICES 431 


2. The situation in which the teacher is teaching some- 
thing that is incorrect. 

3. The situation combining these two—one in which the 
teacher is unsuccessfully teaching something that is incor- 
rect, 

In any event, such cases must be handled with the great- 
est skill. The supervisor must feel very sure of what is 
going on before he steps in. Above all he must do it in such 
a way that the regular teacher is not belittled in the eyes 
of her pupils. The situation should be left so that she may 
go right on when the supervisor stops. On the other hand, 
when a real situation demanding interference is met, the 
supervisor should not hesitate to step in. 

Directed observation cf teaching. Sometimes it is neces- 
sary to direct an individual or a group of teachers to ob- 
serve, not one demonstration lesson or a brief series of them, 
but a fairly extended and consecutive series. This device 
is more common, of course, in training schools for teachers 
than it is in the improvement of teachers while in service. 
However it is often used in city systems where good ma- 
terial is found in the system which can be salvaged by in- 
tensive training of this sort. The observers may be sent an 
hour a day, or for a full half day, or even more, to follow 
through the work of an expert teacher. Obviously, of 
course, the use of this device necessitates freeing the teach- 
ers from some of their work or otherwise adjusting pro- 
grams. It must, therefore, be used sparingly and with 
teachers who give promise of real growth. If progress does 
not result in the series of observations, the teachers should 
doubtless be sent back to the training school for more work. 

All that has been said about careful planning and 
follow-up work with ordinary demonstration lessons is 
deubly important here. The purpose in any specific case 
will determine the plan. Ordinarily it is best to begin with 
simple assignments of easily observable points such as 


432 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


routine, physical conditions, number of pupils, their social 
class, personal characteristics, ete. As skill and confidence 
are gained, observation can be directed to simple items of 
method and technique, such as provision for individual dif- 
ferences, the handling of easy inductive lessons, the tech- 
nique of drill in the lower grades. Still later this series of 
observations can be topped off with attention to difficult 
and intricate lessons. In other words, this device ean be 
used with teachers in service to do quickly and practically 
what should have been done during the preteaching train- 
ing of the teacher, namely, educate her up to an understand- 
ing of method of teaching, classroom management, ete. 

The series of observations should be carefully explained 
as they proceed. Check lists and outlines should be used, 
notes taken, and discussion provided for. 

Directed teaching. As has just been pointed out, there 
will often be found in the teaching group teachers who give 
excellent promise of future worth but whose present tech- 
nique is so poor that improvement work must begin with 
the very fundamentals. For this group directed observa- 
tion is efficacious. However, another group will be found 
on a level somewhat higher. These people also give promise, 
ean teach after a fashion, but are by no means doing the 
best work of which they are capable due to incomplete or 
insufficient training. Directed teaching has been found 
valuable in working with such teachers. 

The supervisor undertakes to direct rather closely all the 
activities involved in preparing for and conducting the 
daily lessons given by the teacher. This involves preteach- 
ing conferences in which are discussed general method, spe- 
cific application, the making of lesson plans, carefu! class- 
room-supervision, and thorough follow-up work. 

The supervisor should supply the teacher with check lists, 


outlines, and standards for judging instruction and discuss — 


these in detail with her. Assistance should be given in-the 


GENERAL DEVICES 433 


choosing of the proper method and technique for each les- 
son, and in working out detailed lesson plans. It is under- 
stood, of course, that daily lesson plans are rarely required 
of regular teachers. Such plans are, however, entirely 
legitimate in the case of weak teachers who need specific 
help with teaching procedure. The supervisor should feel 
free to require them and should read them earefully, dis- 
cussing them with the teacher both before and after teach- 
ing. 

It is obvious that directed teaching will require consider- 
able work on the part of all concerned. It cannot therefore 
be carried out over long periods of time with ordinary 
supervisors and teachers. The device should be applied, 
however, to those teachers who give promise of profiting 
quickly by the intensive training. Should it be found that 
a teacher does not have enough ground work to build upon, 
she should be placed with the group doing directed observa- 
tion, or sent back to a training school for more work. 

Intervisitation. An excellent device for the improve- 
ment of teachers is the provision for a visiting day. Some 
teachers object strenuously and criticize the plan severely, 
but, if properly administered, it is a proper and very bene- 
ficial procedure. Usually visitation is at the teacher’s will, 
but a better plan is to direct it in some measure. In De- 
eatur, Illinois, an interesting plan was in operation some 
time ago in which the supervisor took a teacher or a small 
group of teachers to observe one of the best teachers in the 
system. Any weak teacher in the system could thus be 
shown expert work upon any difficulty confronting her. 
Sometimes the teacher observed will be an expert in teach- 
ing, again she may be noted for disciplinary skill, or yet 
again for efficiency in the routine factors of school man- 
agement. Tact is necessary, of course, in administering 
such a plan. If temperamental or selfish objections are 
raised by the teachers who are directed to go visiting, the 


434 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


objectors must be educated to see the error of their ways. 
Failing adaptability to the demands of good teaching, they 
must be eliminated from the system as painlessly as pos- 
sible. When successful, such a scheme as the Decatur illus- 
tration stands as a good example of codperative supervision. 
Russell shows that this device is used successfully in a 
great number of cities. 

Leave of absence. A leave of absence is often granted 
in order that teachers may be exchanged for a year between 
systems in widely separated parts of the country. The re- 
quirement is usually made that the teacher return for 
service in the original system for a year or two afterwards 
as a return for the privilege of exchange. 

Other reasons for leave of absence are that the teacher 
may attend a normal school or college for a semester or 
year. This is one of the most important phases of training 
in service of promising young teachers and competent older 
ones. Such work, at least summer work, required every 
second or third year of all teachers may eventually take 
the place of institutes. The supervisor should be ever on 
the alert for evidences of special talent or ability and direct 
the individuals to the training best suited to them. He 
should be reasonably familiar with the work of near-by nor- 
mal schools and colleges, both in regular session and in sum- 
mer; and he should be familiar enough with where the best 
work in particular lines can be secured so that he can 
advise teachers wishing to take advanced work. In some 
cases, aS has been stated, teachers, in order to retain their 
positions, will have to be asked to take advanced work in 
prescribed courses. Such a request is eminently proper 
and legitimate. Teachers’ contracts should be so written 
that it can be made without argument as to its legality. 
Every safeguard must be placed, of course, to prevent abuse 
of this request by supervisors. 

Once in a while that remarkable teacher will be found 


GENERAL DEVICES 435 


whom the supervisor must advise to remain away from 
school for once and go to the shore or to the mountains for 
a real vacation. Such advice is as much in order as the 
advice to attend school. 

Some school superintendents will recognize the value of 
leave of absence for study to the extent of paying railroad 
fare, a small bonus or a part of expense, ete. This is a 
healthful tendency and teachers may look forward to its 
further development. Supervisors should not hesitate to 
recommend such policy to the board of education. 

Extension courses, correspondence courses, lectures, 
concerts, etc. This type of work affords the teacher an 
opportunity to secure advanced work without leaving her 
position. College-extension courses of especial benefit to 
teachers are now given in accessible centers, whereas cor- 
respondence courses are available at normal schools and 
state universities. 

Extension work in educational measurements for a whole 
county has been very skillfully organized in Whitman 
County, Washington, under the direction of Dr. Cliff W. 
Stone, of Washington State College. Teachers form them- 
selves into groups which elect one of their number as leader, 
preferably a principal or supervisor experienced in the use 
of measurements. The group is then registered with the 
correspondence department of the college and enough copies 
of each lesson sent to the leader. He is responsible for dis- 
tribution and explanation. The tests are given to the pupils 
as directed and questions are answered in writing. The 
papers of each teacher are then turned in at the next meet- 
ing and are all sent to the college for grading and correc- 
tion. In this way each teacher gets the correspondence 
course and also the benefit of group discussion. Those com- 
pleting the course and passing the examination receive the 
usual college credit. | 

The gencral benefits received from those lectures, con- 


436 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


certs, and plays which are available should not be over- 
looked, and the supervisor should assist teachers in this 
respect as opportunity presents itself. Most of the com- 
petent teachers will need no direction in this particular 
field. 

Bulletins, handbooks, and other printed aids. Many 
supervisors, both city and rural, issue more or less formally 
printed material in addition to the mimeographed and 
typed material which is commonly cireulated. One of the 
finest examples of this type of material is to be found in a 
series of handbooks issued by Superintendent Yawberg of 
Cuyahoga County, Ohio. These little handbooks are clear- 
cut, suecinct summaries of material valuable to the teacher. 
Each handbook treats one topic only, and in the list are 
found ‘‘Lesson Planning,’’ ‘‘ Adapting to Individual Dif- 
ferences,’’ ‘‘The Daily Program,’’ ‘‘Supervised Study,’’ 
and many others. 

Museums and exhibits. The use by teachers of mu- 
seums of art and natural history, of botanical and zo- 
ological gardens should be encouraged and routinized as the 
use of the library is. Not only should they be used for in- 
forming the teacher but also as sources of information for 
the pupils. Much material for lessons and programs can 
be secured. 

Closely allied to public museums and collections is the 
school exhibit. Many school systems to-day maintain in 
the central offices collections of school work which have 
been selected from the actual classroom work of the city. 
Young and beginning. teachers may obtain much valuable 
euidance from this material, and even experienced teachers 
may profit greatly from it. It should be emphasized that 
these collections ought to be made up of ordinary classroom 
work, and not of the carefully selected, and often prepared 
work which is usually sent for publie exhibit. 

Such exhibits may include not orly examples of drawing 


GENERAL DEVICES 437 


and construction work, but also compositions, the outcomes 
of projects, lists of games and devices. If the course of 
study is varied and extensive, calling for many new things, 
these exhibits may be very important aids in good super- 
vision. Another valuable result will be in the illustration 
of varied means of attaining the same objectives, or the 
varied degrees of pupil achievement upon the same thing. A 
live, progressive teaching staff will codperate willingly in 
building up such a collection. A good supervisory staff 
will aid in gathering the material and in making it available 
to the teachers.*® 

School clubs. Clubs formed for professional purposes 
are mentioned a few times in the literature as devices for 
the improvement of teachers. Probably the formation of 
elubs should be purely spontaneous and voluntary. If there 
are sufficient and profitable teachers’ meetings held from 
time to time, very few clubs will be necessary. Social clubs 
are of considerable benefit and should be actively encour- 
aged by supervisors unless they seem to become an end in 
themselves or to monopolize too much time. 

The merit system of promotion as an improvement de- 
vice. Merit systems of various kinds have been tried out 
in many places but are not generally regarded as satisfac- 
tory. Because of this fact, together with the diversion of 
plans in operation or that have been tried, an extended dis- 
cussion will be omitted here. Very recently there has been 
a revival of interest in merit systems because the develop- 
ment of tests and measurements and the refinement of 
teacher-rating schemes has seemed to promise a greater de- 
gree of success than heretofore. Possibly a literature will 
develop as experiments at present under way are com- 
pleted and analyzed. This topic is further developed in 
Chapter XII of this volume. 


15 For a further discussion of this point see G. D. Strayer and N. L. 
Engelhardt, The Classroom Teacher (American Book Co., 1920), p. 32, 


4388 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Participation in the determination of policy, mak- 
ing of curriculums, etc. This element of participation 
in school administration has been conspicuous by its 
absence until recently. The wealth of information and 
ability possessed by the experienced teachers can be 
of great assistance to supervisory and administrative 
officers and should be utilized to the utmost. Since the 
theory of supervision advanced in this book is based upon 
the idea of codperative work between teacher, principal, 
and supervisor, extended discussion will not be given here 
because it would only repeat the many illustrations of such 
work given in different chapters. 

One warning should possibly be uttered about this prob- 
lem of participation. Teacher participation should not be 
demanded, provided for, or allowed on the basis of senti- 
mental discussions of democracy. Teacher participation is 
valuable only when and if it contributes something to the 
general excellence of the school system. There is no reason 
for untrained or beginning teachers to participate in any 
large way. Even experienced teachers who are not actively 
and vigorously interested in the general problem of raising 
the efficiency of the school system have no real reason for 
insisting upon participation. Participation is a scientific 
problem based upon business principles, and: should not be 
based upon incorrect ideas of democracy. 

An excellent account of teacher participation in the bet- 
terment of instruction in Detroit is to be found in Chapter 
X of this volume. The competent teachers in this situation 
were able to make many important additions to the course 
of study and also to raise materially the level of instruc- 
tion. 

The relation between discipline and participation is well 
summarized by Hosic.?® 


16 J. F. Hosic, ‘‘Democratization of Supervision,’?’? School and 
Society, Vol. 11, March 20, 1920, pp. 331-36. 


GENERAL DEVICES 439 


... “discipline” must progressively be supplanted by codper- 
ation—teachers must be consulted regularly by the supervisor, 
they should be organized for that purpose—in order that the 
work may be more perfect and the community better served— 
the concept of democracy should be more clearly defined, the 
standards of supervision set higher, and the training of super- 
visors made more rigorous and complete. A generous enthusiasm 
for the best things in life, a human sympathy that can touch all 
his colleagues, coupled with a true conception of his office and 
an adequate preparation for it gives us the democratic American 
school supervisor. His tribe is increasing. May he see more 
and more clearly how to lead the way. 


The rating of teachers and improvement in service. 
Teacher rating has been all too often an administrative 
device for determining promotion, salary increases, ete., or 
for recording a teacher’s status. Emphasis should be 
shifted to the possibilities of rating as a method of improve- 
ment in service. Chapter XIT will be devoted to this prob- 
lem. 

Improving the teacher in fields other than the technical. 
The preceding discussion has been carried on almost entirely 
in terms of improving the teacher in the strictly profes- 
sional phases of her work. There are, however, many other 
sources of possible weakness which should invite the atten- 
tion of both supervisor and teacher. 

For instance, a difficult phase of teacher guidance is sug- 
gested in the following quotation.*’ As the extract states, 
little advice can be given the supervisor, who must follow 
the best procedure that suggests itself in each case: 


Recognizing that the school is an increasingly powerful factor 
in influencing the broad community interests, we see the need 
for helping the normal graduate to make such relationships as 


17 Frances Jenkins, ‘‘Training of Teachers in Service: Adjusting 
the Normal Graduate to the City System,’’ Proceedings of the 
National Education Association, 1913, pp. 448-52. 


440 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


will be inspirational to her and helpful to the community. This 
is one of the most difficult problems confronting the supervisor. 
Many times intimate personal points of view debar the graduate 
from establishing effective relationships, prejudices are present 
which prevent contact, habits of behavior which are unpleasant 
to encounter. Again indifference is most powerful in keeping 
a teacher in a rut. One hesitates to say: “Do you know that 
your card should be sent in recognition of this courtesy?” ‘Why 
did you fail to return that call?” “You are mistaken in saying 
that you had no dress suited for this occasion.” Yet one difficulty 
in establishing right relationships grows out of just such fail- 
ures to meet common social conventions. The need for making 
friends outside of the teaching force, for finding wholesome modes 
of recreation, for assuming community obligations in church, or 
club, or charitable work—these are factors with which super- 
vision may wish to concern itself, yet in accomplishing which, 
it finds its hands tied. Our parents’ associations offer oppor- 
tunities for such contact, but only too frequently the graduate 
has to be told the courtesies of the hostess, has to be urged to 
take the initiative in making the mothers feels at home. The 
supervisor may be of some help in making the mothers feel at 
home, a personal word here, an introduction there, an opportun- 
ity for special recognition or service, but the problem remains 
largely unsolved, yet in great need of solution. 


The opposite problem from one of those stated above also 
deserves the attention of the supervisor. Sometimes a con- 
scientious teacher will overload herself with obligations to 
the local Sunday school or church, with other community 
work, club work, ete. This teacher must be advised in some 
tactful way to find a better adjustment of community and 
school claims upon her time. Outside community work is 
valuable only as it contributes something to the teacher as 
well as to the community. Proper physical and mental 
health to be devoted to teaching is the teacher’s first con- 
cern, and if outside work, worthy as it may be, interferes, - 
it must be eliminated or lessened in amount. 

Again, the problem of ‘‘making friends outside of the 
teaching force’? may be the problem of too many friends 


GENERAL DEVICES 441 


and of the wrong kind. Business houses of all kinds are 
taking the stand that it is legitimate for them to inquire 
into the companionships and recreations of their employees, 
especially in the cases of those upon whom rests responsibil- 
ity and dignity. Much more vital are the teacher’s friend- 
ships and recreations out of school. Administrative and 
supervisory officers have the right to indicate that certain 
activities that are plainly detrimental to the school be 
avoided. 

Based upon a careful study of causes of failure among 
teachers, Anderson, Barr and Bush present the following 
suggestive classification of the various sources of weak- 
ness: 78 


Type 1. Lack of control over the technique of teaching. She 
may be ignorant of the science of teaching or un- 
able to apply the principles. She does not know 

. how to teach. 

Type 2. Lack of ability to maintain discipline and order. She 

fails to get attention, the room is in disorder. 

Lack of mastery of subject matter. 

Lack of intelligence. She lacks the native ability to 

cope with the situation. 

Type 5. Lack of effort. Whether because of lack of physical 
energy, or because of a constitutional dislike for 
work, she fails to put forth the necessary effort for 
success. .She will probably not prepare her work, 
not look after routine details, not keep up the 
necessary records and reports, etc. 

Type 6. Lack of initiative. She may do everything that she 
is told but nothing more. Quite incapable of acting 
upon general principles. 

Tyee 7%. Lack of adaptability. She fails to adapt herself to the 
principal, the other teachers, the community, or the 
pupils. She is a potential trouble maker. She 


TYPE 
TYPE 


asi 


18 Visiting the Teacher at Work (D. Appleton & Co., 1925), pp. 
333-34. 


442 


TYPE 


TYPE 


TYPE 


TYPE 


TYPE 


TYPE 


TYPE 


TYPE 


TYPE 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


10. 


ib. 


13. 


14. 


may be good enough in her classroom, but she fails 
to establish proper relations with the rest of the 
building. She is individualistic, generally dis- 
eruntled and antagonistic. 

Lack of common sense. She fails to size up the situ- 
ation. She lacks the good judgment to see that 
certain things and procedures are out of place. 
She either moves too rapidly or too slowly. She 
is always in. difficulties. 

Lack of physical ability. She is in ill-health, acknowl- 
edged or concealed. She may be nervous, irritable, 
or otherwise disagreeable. She may lack the physi- 
eal energy to do good work. 

Lack of standards. She does not know what is ex- 
pected of her. She may be quite capable but does 
not yet know the accepted standards of good teach- 
ing. 

Lack of ability to carry on. She becomes discouraged 
at the attitude of the principal, the poor work of 
the pupils, ete. She looks continually for new and 
better pastures. 

Lack of singleness of purpose. She has too many 
outside interests, business, family, social obligations, 
etc. She is not willing to share with others the 
many extra burdens and assignments of the school. 


Lack of sympathetic understanding of pupils. She 


fails to get their point of view, and thus takes 
wrong attitudes. She has lost all recollection of 
the pleasures, wishes, and hopes of childhood. She 
is out of sympathy with those things that children 
love and cherish most. . 

Lack of social background. She fails because of a 
limited social background. The community and the 
children may be rich in social experience and be 
aware of the difference. The children laugh at her. 

Lack of knowledge of what pupils can do. She does 
not know what to expect of pupils, and has no 
notion of difficulty levels. 

Lack of personality. She lacks force, spiritual, so- 
cial, and physical. She fails to radiate life and 
enthusiasm. She does not attract the pupils nor 
engender their confidence. 


GENERAL DEVICES 443 


Type 17. Lack of moral standards. She is not honest with her- 
self nor with other teachers. She fails to show 
moral stamina in her many personal relationships 
about the school or community. 


Continuing the quotation: 


Obviously to offer solutions for all cases would lead one into 
practically every field of human knowledge. The task, however, 
though difficult, is not impossible. There is already available 
considerable literature in the fields of sociology, education, psy- 
chology, which while often inaccessible, yet is applicable to such 
problems. It is, however, not the purpose of the writers, were 
they possessed of the necessary knowledge, to suggest detailed 
training programs and solutions for all these cases. 


Despite their modesty in regard to presenting solutions 
for the above types, the authors do present an extremely 
valuable collection of case studies with detailed accounts of 
how each was handled. Their concrete presentation should 
be studied as a supplement to the general discussion here 
given. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


1. Apams, E. A., “The Principal’s Programme of Professional 
Activities,’ Elementary School Journal, Vol. 23, June, 
1925, pp. 733ff. Very valuable. 

2. Auten, T. T., ‘Teachers’ Meetings on a Democratic Basis,” 
Waucational Administration and Supervision, Vol. 5, Jan., 
1919, pp. 19-24. Practical and suggestive. 

3. ANDERSON, C. J., Barr, A. §., and Busu, Maybell, Visiting 
the Teacher at Work (D. Appleton & Co., 1925). Whole 
volume is of value. Chapters X and XI contain unique 
discussion of difficulties not ordinarily handled. 

4. BoELTNER, Emma A., “Plan for Teachers’ Meetings,” Jour- 
nal of Educational Method, Vol. 1, Oct., 1921, pp. 19-25. 
Excellent. 

5. Burton, W. H., Supervision and the Improvement of Teach- 
ing (D. Appleton & Co., 1922), Chap XIV. 


444 


14. 


15. 


16. 


17. 


18. 





THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


. CARRIGAN, Rose, “A Supervisor’s Experience in Directing a 


Tryout of the Project Method,” Journal of Educational 
Method, Vol. 1, Oct., 1921, pp. 2-7. 

, “Meetings of Teachers in a School District,” Journal 
of Educational Method, three parts, Nov., 1924, pp. 91-93; 
Dec., 1924, pp. 152-56; Jan., 1925, pp. 185-89. 





. CHAmpLin, C. D., “A Philosophy of Personal and Profes- 


sional Improvement for Teachers and Students of Educa- 
tion,” Education, Vol. 44, Oct., 1922, pp. 65-72. Inspira- 
tional. 


. CuaRK, M. E., “An Outline for the Supervision of Instruc- 


tion in the Small High School,” School Board Journal, 
Vol. 69, Dec., 1924, pp. 53-54. An excellent conerete ac- 
count of a workable program of professional study. 


. CuARK, Marian G., “Direction of Teachers in the Use of the 


Project,” Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 3, April, 
1924, pp. 314 ff. 


. CUBBERLEY, E. P., The Principal and His School (Houghton 


Mifflin Co., 1923), Chaps. XXIII and XXV. 


. Davipson, Isobel, “A State Programme for Improving In- 


struction in Reading,” Proceedings of the National Educa- 
tion Association, Vol. 61, 1923, pp. 766-71. 


. Dorsey, Susan M., “Relation of the Superintendent of 


Schools to the Teaching Corps,” Proceedings of the Na- 
tional Education Association, Vol. 62, 1924, pp. 869-75. 
Excellent concrete discussion, stressing advisory council and 
its activities. 

Goopigs, F. T., “Promoting the Growth of Teachers in Ser- 
vice,” School Board Journal, Vol. 66, May, 1923, pp. 57 ff. 
Good concrete discussion. 

Gray, Olive, “Supervision as a Joint State and Local Under- 
taking,’ Hlementary School Journal, Vol. 23, March, 1923, 
pp. 504-16. 

, “The Professionalization of the Teaching Staff,” 
Elementary School Journal, Vol. 26, Nov., 1925, pp. 174- 
85. Excellent. 

Gray, W. S., “The Work of the Elementary School Prin- 
cipals,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 19, Sept., 1918, 
pp. 24-35. Good outline for a teachers’ meeting. 

, “Methods of Improving the Technique of Teach- 

ing,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, Dee., 1919, pp. 

263-75. 





iD 


20. 
2. 
22. 
23, 


24. 


25. 


26. 


27. 


28. 
29. 
30. 


31. 


GENERAL DEVICES AAB 


Hostc, J. F., “Democratization of Supervision,” School and 
Society, Vol. 11, March 20, 1920, pp. 331, 336. 

HupbeExson, Earl, “The Profession of Principal,’ School Re- 
view, Vol. 30, Jan., 1922, pp. 15-23. Valuable tables show- 
ing academic and professional status of teachers; discusses 
the efficiency of teachers’ meetings. 

ImpBopen, Sarah M., “At Work,” Journal of Educational 
Method, Vol. 3, Sept., 1923, p. 28. 

JENKINS, Frances, “Training of Teachers in Service,’ Pro- 
ceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 51, 
1913, pp. 448-52. 

Keyes, Rowena K., “Vision and Supervision,” Journal of 
Educational Method, Vol. 1, May, 1922, pp. 348 ff. Some ° 
good points on use of devices. 

LommMeEN, Georgiana, “The Teachers’ Institute as an Agency 
for Training Teachers in Service,” Journal of Rural Edu- 
cation, Vol. 1, Oct., 1921, pp. 60-68. A very valuable and 
conclusive study. 

, “The Teachers’ Institute as an Agency for Training 
Teachers in Service,” Proceedings of the National Educa- 
tion Association, Vol. 60, 1922, pp. 1141-49. Remarkable 
brief summary of entire situation. 

Minor, Ruby, “Making the Course of Study,” Hlementary 
School Journal, Vol. 22, May, 1922, pp. 655 ff. Discusses 
teacher participation. 

Moetter, H. C., “Raising the Standard of County Super- 
vision through Demonstration Teaching,” Proceedings of 
the National Education Association, Vol. 62, 1924, pp. 
698-702. 

Mossman, Lois C., “Changing Conceptions Relative to the 
Planning of Lessons,” Teachers College Contributions to 
Education, No. 147, 1924. 

Newevry, Maud, “Supervision for Growth,’ Proceedings of 
the National Education Association, Vol. 59, 1921, pp. 
544-49. 

Nourr, H. W., The *Supervision of Instruction (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1920). Excellent discussions of several devices 
in improving teachers. See the index. 

Ruac, H. O., “Self-Improvement of Teachers through Self- 
Rating: A New Scale for Rating Teachers’ Efficiency,” 
Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, May, 1920, pp. 670-84. 
Stresses use of rating as a device in improvement. 





446 


32. 


33. 


34. 


35. 


36. 


of. 


38. 


39. 


40. 


45, 


46. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


RvssELL, Charles, “The Improvement of City Elementary 
School Teachers in Service,’ Teachers College Contribu- 
tions to Education, No. 128, 1922. 

Sau, E. S., “Professional Teachers’ Meetings for the High 
School,” School Review, Vol. 30, May, 1922, pp. 371-77. 
Practical discussion. 

“School Board Attitude toward Teachers’ Conventions,” edi- 
torial, School Board Journal, Vol. 69, Deec., 1924, p. 63. 
Scort, Zenos K., “Improving Teachers in Service,” Proceed- 
ings of the National Education Association, Vol. 59, 1921, 

pp. 773-79. 

SEARS, J. B., Classroom Organization and Control (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1918), Chap XVII. 

SuHIExs, Albert, “Report on a Self-Directed System of Kin- 
dergarten Supervision,” Hlementary School Journal, Vol. 
18, Nov., 1917, pp. 206-09. Good description of teachers 
at work cooperatively bettering their work. 

Simpson, Mabel E., “The Institute as a Means of Coodpera- 
tive Supervision,” Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 2, 
Sept., 1922, pp. 2-8. Excellent discussion. 

Spencer, Cassie R., “Supervision for Growth,” Proceedings 
of the National Education Association, Vol. 59, 1921, pp. 
572-75. 

Spencer, P. R., “Study Conference as an Aid in Supervi- 
sion,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 23, Feb., 1923, pp. 
423 ff. Good discussion of preliminary work before school 
opens. 


. StRAYER, G. D., Brief Course in the Teaching Process (The 


Maemillan Co., 1913). Chapter on supervision. 


. STRAYER, G. D., and ENGELHARDT, N. L., The Classroom 


Teacher (American Book Co., 1920). 


. “The Supervisor and the Project Method,” Journal of Edu- 


cational Method, Vol. 1, March, 1922, pp. 267. 


. “A Symposium on Teacher Participation in the Determina- 


tion of Policies,” series of articles, Proceedings of the Na- 


tional Edueation Association, Vol. 65, 1925, pp. 93-114. 
Views of teachers, principals, supervisors, and administra- 
tors ably presented. 

United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 3, 1911, 
“Agencies for the Improvement of Teachers in Service,” 
A good summary though somewhat out of date now. 

Upprcrarr, Harlan, “Participation of Teachers in School 


- AT, 


48. 


49. 


50. 


OL, 


o2. 


GENERAL DEVICES 447° 


Management,” Proceedings of the National Education As. 
sociation, Vol. 59, 1921, pp. 284-93. 

Van Oot, B. H., “The Conference Method of Conducting 
High School Faculty Meetings,” School Board Journal, 
Vol. 69, Nov., 1924, pp. 45-46. 

Wirnanp, C. M., “Supervision by Remote Control,” School 
Board Journal, Vol. 71, July, 1925, p. 36. Discusses im- 
proving teachers by radio. 

Wiuson, H. B., “The Participation of the Teaching Staff 
in School Administration,’ Educational Administration 
and Supervision, Vol. 6, Feb., 1920, pp. 61-67. Sane prac- 
tical discussion. 

, “Effects of Unnecessary Restraints Placed upon 
Teachers,” Hlementary School Journal, Vol. 26, Nov., 1925, 
pp. 224-26. 

Yawserc, A. G., “Instructional Supervision with the An- 
nounced Visit as an Important Factor,” School Review, 
Vol. 31, Dee., 1923, pp. 763-76. Excellent. Good outline 
for teacher meeting. 

YAwsercG, A. G., and various assistants. A series of Hand- 
books for Teachers on several subjects. A valuable illus- 
tration of improvement work by means of printed booklets, 
ete. (Cuyahoga County, Ohio). 





CHAPTER XII 


EVALUATING THE EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 


Despite the claims of certain educational sentimental- 
ists that it is little short of sacrilegious for a super- 
visor to judge his teachers in relation to their ability 
to instruct, it is nevertheless a fact that this is one of 
the very best excuses for his existence. I do not see 
how he would justify his existence if he did not think 
of teaching in terms of efficiency levels.1 


Rating is fundamentally wrong, impossible of just 
and correct application, lowering to the self-respect and 
dignity of teachers, both to themselves and in the eyes 
of parents and children, entirely unnecessary, a detri- 
ment to good pedagogy, and a bar to placing teaching 
among the professions.2 


We have here two seemingly diametrically opposed opin- 
ions. It is just possible, however, that the two individuals 
are not talking about the same thing. Discussions of 
teacher rating have been characterized by violent clashes of 
opinion, by charge and countercharge, by all sorts of acri- 
monious disputes. The present vigorous differences of opin- 
ion in the field, the widespread suspicion and hatred sur- 
rounding teacher rating is largely due to a fundamental 
error of analysis and definition. It is interesting to note 
how few discussions of this problem make the fundamental 
and necessary distinction between administrative rating 
and supervisory rating. 





1L. D. Coffman, ‘‘The Control of Educational Progress through 
School Supervision,’”’ Proceedings of the National Education Asso- 
ciation, 1917, p. 187. 

2A. L. Parrott, ‘‘ Abolishing the Rating of Teachers,’’ ibid., 
p. 1168. 


448 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 449 


Rating in theory is sound and justifiable. There are a 
number of weighty reasons for, and good uses to be made of 
rating both in administration and in supervision. Admin- 
istrative rating for determining salary, tenure, and promo- 
tion is by far the older of the two practices. It is in- 
herently open to certain difficulties and abuses. Super- 
visory rating for the improvement of teaching is a recent 
development. Its purposes and technique are quite differ- 
ent from that of the older procedure. The denunciations of 
rating and the arguments against it center almost entirely 
around administrative rating. There is, and can be, little 
opposition to supervisory rating. It would doubtless help 
materially if we could establish the term ‘‘evaluation for 
diagnostic purposes’’ in place of ‘‘rating’’ when referring 
to supervisory analysis of the teacher’s work. The distinc- 
tion between the two, the purposes of each, the arguments 
concerning each will be made clear in the pages immediately 
following. 

Reasons for rating. A statement of the reasons for 
rating makes clear the uses of rating cards also. The fol- 
lowing outline may be taken therefore as a combined state- 
ment of reasons for, and uses of rating. 


1. Administrative reasons for (or uses of) rating 
(a) To secure data upon which to base promotion, trans- 
fer, or dismissal of teachers 
(6) To secure data upon which to base and operate a 
merit scheme of salary increases 
(c) To secure data to show that adequate return is being 
secured for money spent in teachers’ salaries 
2. Supervisory reasons for (or uses of) rating 
(a) To improve the teacher in service 
(b) To stimulate self-analysis, self-criticism, and _ self- 
improvement 
(c) To raise professional standards 
(d) To provide supervisors and principals with uniform 
standards with which to judge teachers, analyze 
their work, and stimulate improvement 


450 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


(e) To provide teachers with a statement of the stand- 
ards by which they are being judged, toward which 
they should devote their efforts to improve 


It is obvious, of course, that the supervisory uses overlap 
each other and certain of the administrative uses of rating. 
Possibly all the supervisory uses should be subsumed under 
the first one listed, namely, the improvement of teachers 
in service. 

Rating cards have long been used administratively as in- 
struments of inspection, as convenient office records, and as 
administrative devices relating to tenure and salary. These 
will always be necessary and legitimate uses, but, in the 
opinion of the writers, second in importance to the super- 
visory uses of rating in the improvement of teachers in 
service. 

As stated above, the administrative rating was the first 
to appear, and was for a long time the only form of rating 
extant. Because of the vital relation to tenure and salary, 
because of obvious shortcomings in early seales, and because 
of manifest abuses in application, widespread fear and an- 
tagonism developed among teachers. We shall see later in 
this chapter, as stated before, that most of criticisms of, and 
arguments against rating are based upon administrative 
uses of rating. The result of this situation has been to 
seriously handicap the introduction of supervisory uses of 
rating which was a later development. There can be very 
little honest opposition to this latter type. though argu- 
ments often confuse the two. 

Administrative uses of rating. The promotion, transfer, 
and dismissal of teachers. Supervisors and principals are 
playing an ever increasing part in these important admin- 
istrative functions. Certainly in cases of promotion those 
school officers in closest touch with the teachers’ work 
should have a voice in changes made. A rating scheme of 
some sort is necessary, faulty as it may be, as a basis for 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 451 


definite recommendation. In the case of transfer because 
of special excellence to a larger field of endeavor, the situa- 
tion is closely akin to promotion, if it is not in fact pro- 
motion. 

In the ease of transfer for inefficiency, inability to co- 
operate, incompatibility or similar negative reasons, the 
supervisor occupies a strategic position. As a third party 
he may diagnose the ease, listen to both principal and 
teacher, and give expert assistance to administrative offi- 
eials in actual change or transfer. In this way a fair and 
official report can accompany the teacher to the new build- 
ing. This should work to prevent prejudice, and to remove 
from the teacher’s mind certain psychological handicaps in- 
herent in such situations. This is important since ineffi- 
ciency and incompatibility in one situation often disappear 
in another if the teacher has a fair chance. 

Except with appointees new to the system, the building 
principal should have considerable leeway in making up the 
list of teachers assigned to his building. This is rapidly 
becoming accepted practice. The older procedure of send- 
ing to the principal from the central office a list of people 
assigned to him without his knowledge or consent is passing. 
Both general city-wide conditions and local situations 
should be considered in assigning teachers. 

In the appointment of new teachers to a system some sort 
of rating card or information blank is used. This is, how- 
ever, more purely an administrative matter and will not be 
elaborated here. 

Merit ratings as a basis for salary wmcreases. A merit 
scheme partially or wholly does away with automatic salary 
increases. Added increments to salary are based upon the 
addition to the teacher’s training of definite units of fur- 
ther work; upon the results of this training as shown in her 
work and judged by her supervisors and principal; upon 
any other indices of increased efficiency and success which 


452 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


may be set up. The first element, definite units of train- 
ing, gives little trouble. The other elements rest upon the 
judgment of the observers. Upon this rock most rating 
schemes have been wrecked. Judgments differ between 
individuals, and with the same individual at different 
times. A somewhat natural fear on the part of the teacher 
has prompted vigorous opposition to the whole scheme. 
These points are elaborated in some detail later in the chap- 
ter. Suffice it to say here that the most ardent advocates 
of merit rating are willing to admit the conspicuous ab- 
sence of any satisfactory rating scheme. They do not 
admit, however, the impossibility of devising such a scheme, 
the impossibility of training and controlling judgment in 
terms of such a scheme, nor the impossibility of such an 
increase in professional standards and outlook as to make 
possible the fair trial of such a scheme. 

Merit ratings as bases for salary and promotion appeared 
in the field long ago and have been tried in many places. 
There are isolated instances of considerable degree of suc- 
cess, but on the whole the scheme has met with but indiffer- 
ent success. 

The fact must be faced that many teachers are opposed 
to merit rating because they lack sufficient professional 
vision and are afraid to trust their colleagues. This is not 
to be wondered at, nor is it as severe and harsh an indict- 
ment of the teaching body as it sounds. It really points to 
the fact that the teaching body is still largely made up of 
immature and untrained people who are not capable of 
entertaining the requisite professional standards. It must 
be emphasized, of course, that there are many splendid 
examples of high professional idealism to be found among 
teachers the country over. There is bright promise that, as 
standards of training rise, professional vision will broaden. 

Many administrators also lack the courage to try this 
system out. This too is not to be wondered at when it is 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 453 


considered, on the one hand, that all sorts of political 
manipulation is likely to result, unfair pressure brought to 
bear, and a general state of discord engendered. Again, on 
the other hand, it is to be noted that many courageous lead- 
ers have been able to obtain the confidence of teachers in 
such schemes. ' 

A recent National Education Association questionnaire 
on salaries contained the question: ‘‘Does rating directly 
affect salary?’’ Of 500 cities replying, 313, or 63 per cent, 
replied that rating did directly affect salaries.2? Observa- 
tion and further inquiry develop the fact, however, that in 
many instances the effect on salary is distinctly limited. 
However, many cities in the list must make more or less 
important use of rating in connection with salary to justify 
the answers which came in. 

In a comprehensive summary of merit listing, Hines sup- 
plies further similar data.* His survey had to do primarily 
with listing teachers for original appointment, but he in- 
eludes considerable material relating to merit and salary 
schedules. 

A student who made a careful investigation of the opera- 
tion of rating schemes the country over states that: ° 


In most cities the rules of the board of education pertaining to 
salary schedules provide for “withholding the annual increment 
from those teachers whose services, according to the judgment of 
the superintendent, are unsatisfactory.” If by general impres- 
sion the superintendent can do this it would seem that not only 
would seales help the matter but make it eminently better and 
safer. 


3‘‘Teachers’ Salaries and Salary Trends in 1923,’’ report of 
Salary Committee of the National Education Association, July, 1923, 
-pp. 51-52. 

4 Harlan C. Hines, ‘‘ Merit Systems in the Larger Cities,’’ School 
Board Journal, Vol. 69, June, 1924, pp. 52 ff. 

5 William E. Maddock, Teacher Rating, Master’s Thesis, Stanford 
University, 1922, pp. 7-9. 


454 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


The same writer quotes the superintendent of one of the 
larger middle western cities as saying, ‘‘In my judgment, 
the profession of teaching will never reach a very high 
plane until our salary schedule will make it possible to pay 
the more worthy a larger compensation than the less 
worthy.’’ 

The participation of the teachers themselves in the de- 
velopment of the merit scheme might obviate many of the 
difficulties now inherent in the situation. It is very evi- 
dent, however, that this whole question is undergoing a 
marked revival of interest, due in part to the agitation for 
higher salaries going on in the country. The fact is at- 
tested by recently issued bulletins and circulars, of which the 
two following illustrations are typical. From Duluth, 
Minnesota: ° 


The Duluth rating system for teachers was formulated during 
the school year 1921-22. A committee of ten teachers, two super- 
visors, and three principals, working under the chairmanship of 
the Superintendent of Schools and aided by the advice and criti- 
cism of the entire teaching staff developed the plan. The plan is 
being placed in tentative operation for the year 1922-23. It will 
have no influence whatever on the salaries of teachers who will 
be reappointed for the next school year. A committee similar 
to last year’s group will be chosen early in the present year to 
receive suggestions and criticisms from members of the force and 
to revise the system in the light of the year’s experience. During 
the year and before such revision is attempted an expression of 
opinion concerning the value of the system and concerning meth- 
ods for its improvement will be requested from every member of 
the instructional and supervisory staff. 

The greatly increased cost of our school system’s operation and 
the prevailing financial and industrial unrest have focussed pub- 
lie attention upon the expenditures of the Board of Education. 
Of these expenditures more than seventy per cent goes to pay 
the salaries of the instructional and supervisory staff. In order 


6‘“The Duluth System for the Rating of Teachers,’’ Board of 
Education publication, June 9, 1922, pp. 2-3. 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 455 


for the Duluth school system to be able to bear this public 
serutiny it is necessary that the persons in charge of it shall be 
able to show that the money expended for teachers’ salaries is 
paid to the people who earn it. To meet this need, the rating 
system adds the factor of supervisory judgment to the factors 
of training and experience which have formerly determined and 
which will, for at least the next year, determine the salaries 
which teachers will receive. The system is intended eventually 
to affect the operation of the salary schedule and looks, in its 
complete operation to the protection of the competent teacher in 
the matter of salary. It goes farther than that. It cautiously 
and tentatively establishes a procedure not only to protect the 
teacher who is doing good work, but also to assist other teachers 
in bringing their work up to the proper standard. 

The rating system, then, may be said to have a twofold pur- 
pose. On the one hand it is concerned with recognizing and 
rewarding teacher merit and provides for the inspection of the 
actual work of teachers as a basis for their classification. On 
the other hand the rating system is definitely concerned with 
the improvement of the work which the teachers are doing. It 
seeks to set up situations in which a frank, open appraisal of 
the teacher’s work may lead to its appreciative discussion and to 
a consideration of methods by which it may be improved. The 
system fixes definitely the responsibility which supervisors and 
principals have for assisting teachers with their work; it indicates 
to teachers their points of strength and of weakness; and the 
cooperative attempts of teacher and supervisor to remove the 
difficulties which have been met should result in both a higher 
type of teaching and of supervision in the schools of Duluth. 


The Duluth system, unfortunately, was discontinued 
after a short trial because of certain local conditions which 
have handicapped similar schemes elsewhere. — 

Another similar statement is taken from a typewritten 
statement by Supt. M. J. Fletcher of Jamestown, N. Y.: 


Key ror MAKING Report ON TEACHERS 


I. Purposes: 
1. The primary purpose is that the Board of Education 
may have assurance that the city is getting a fair re- 


456 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


turn in service for the money it spends for teachers’ 
salaries. 

2. A systematic effort to improve our schools through the 
improvement of individual teachers. 

3. To determine whether probationary teachers should re- 
ceive permanent appointments and whether other 
teachers should be retained. 

4. To protect teachers against unfair criticism. 

5. To form a basis for administering such merit system as 
the Board of Education may establish. 

6. To provide principals and supervisors a uniform definite 
plan for estimating the success of their teachers. 

7. To provide the superintendent definite, reliable informa- 
tion for answering the questions of the Board of Edu- 
cation and prospective employers. 


To summarize: merit rating is more properly an admin- 
istrative problem. Supervisors, however, participate in a 
vital manner, therefore this somewhat extended discussion. 
National experts on salary schedules are advocating merit 
rating. They admit that serious difficulties stand in the 
way of such rating. The proposal is undoubtedly unpopu- 
lar with many teachers and administrators. Nevertheless, 
it is in operation successfully at present in a number of 
school systems. This gives promise of wider application. 

Obtaining objective evidence of the teaching efficiency. 
The agitation for higher salaries, the current criticisms of 
education, and the frequent tax scares make it increasingly 
necessary to present evidence which the public can readily 
understand. The use of standard test scores has been of 
immense value to teachers and principals in meeting public 
criticisms and questions. Similarly we must devise means 
by which the status, training, and probable efficiency of the 
teaching body can be presented. This is but an application 
for another purpose of the discussion presented in the im- 
mediately preceding paragraphs. 

It is obvious that any type of administrative rating 
should be safeguarded to the utmost and every effort made 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 457 


to keep it fair, impartial, and inclusive of all factors in the 
situation. The supervisor should have in mind all outside 
factors bearing upon the case. When pupils are given in- 
telligence tests or school examinations, their present condi- 
tion, previous schooling, home environment, and the like 
are carefully investigated. In making up a final rating on 
the teacher, she is entitled to the same consideration. She 
may be laboring under grave disadvantage, due to home 
conditions, financial embarassment, lack of physical well- 
being, ete. 

Arguments advanced against rating. Before turning 
from the foregoing discussion of administrative rating to 
the supervisory uses, we may consider briefly the common 
arguments advanced against rating. As stated earlier in 
the chapter, antagonism centers chiefly around the admin- 
istrative function and not the supervisory. 


1. Rating is unprofessional; it prevents teaching becoming a 
profession. 

2. Rating differs with individuals and even with the same indi- 
vidual over a period of time and is therefore manifestly unfair. 

3. Rating is open to too many abuses, makes unfair discrimi- 
nation very easy, and is therefore unsafe. 

4. Rating schemes force the teacher to live up to the scheme 
and not teach according to good pedagogical principles. Rating 
forces the teacher to play to the rater, and not to the children’s 
interests. : 


Docs rating prevent teaching becoming a profession? 
The statement is made again and again that other profes- 
sions are not rated. Objectors correctly point out that the 
approval or disapproval of the public accorded to physicians 
or lawyers is not rating. Professional workers, to be sure, 
ean be disbarred for improper practice, but this is usually 
done by their peers and not their superiors, so that again 
it is not quite parallel to teacher rating. This circumstance 
does indicate, however, the existence of a standard under 


458 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


which professional workers operate, though it is remote and 
seldom applied. Beyond this it is difficult to follow the 
argument of the objectors. 

The chief answer to the statement that professional men 
are not rated is that the statement is not true. Debaters 
usually point to individual physicians or lawyers who are 
pursuing their labors independently. Technical employees, 
professional men in every sense of the word, employed by 
ereat corporations are rated very strictly. Many corpora- 
tions employing professionally trained engineers and the 
like, operate rating schemes quite similar to those in use in 
schools.” 

The point is also overlooked—a most vital point, too— 
that candidates for the professions go through a much 
longer and more rigorous course of training than do teach- 
ers. The application of rating schemes has for one of its 
chief ends the improvement of teachers in service through 
stimulating to further professional training. This is, of 
course, a supervisory result, but it can be aided through 
administrative uses of rating as well. In regard to this 
point. rating and professional standards, Rugg says: ® 


One of the most acute educational needs is that of training 
teachers in service. As they enter the service, teachers are typi- 
cally untrained. Furthermore, tenure is short, the modal length 
of service being two years. At least 175,000 teachers enter ser- 
vice every year. Especially is this true in small towns and cities 
which receive the transients and which are really training centers 
for those who go on to the larger school systems. In large cities 
there is a converse situation. There long tenure is accompanied 
by relatively few “training” interruptions. Automatic salary 


7 Seott and Clothier, Personnel Management (A. W. Shaw & Co., 
1923), Chap. xiii. Pages 197-226 contain full discussion with sample 
cards used in industry. 

8H. O. Rugg, ‘‘Self-Improvement through Self-Rating: A New 
Seale for Rating Teachers’ Efficiency,’’?’ Elementary School Journal, 
Vol. 19, p. 670. 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 459 


increases tend, when taken with long tenure and lack of stimu- 
lating training, to reduce teachers to routine “trade workers.” 
Such teachers rarely develop an attitude of constructive criticism 
of their work. 


Here we have, of course, an intimate relation between 
administrative and supervisory rating. It is clear, how- 
ever, that either or both, instead of preventing the profes- 
sionalization of teaching, might well contribute directly to 
that end. 

Does rating differ with individuals? Yes, of course! Is 
that sufficient reason for discontinuing rating? Of course 
not! Ratings differ not only with individuals but with the 
same individual at different times. In Rugg’s article re- 
ferred to just above there is an interesting summary of 
evidence showing in what ways ratings will differ and to 
what extent. Rating scales are just instruments of meas- 
urement and are of such recent development that they 
contain many imperfections. Chief among these is sub- 
jectivity in terminology. We can reasonably expect in the 
not too distant future to evolve scales sufficiently objective 
to eliminate much of personal bias which is so frequently 
the cause of complaint. The codperative formulation of the 
eards will do much to bring about a common agreement on 
the meaning of the terms and standards. The methods of 
observing and judging are being constantly refined. 

Just because human judgment is fallible is no reason to 
do away with procedures which rest upon judgment. We 
have to rely on that same fallible judgment in many vitally 
important affairs in life. We base courses of action affect- 
ing the welfare of many people upon it. Likewise rating 
which affects the welfare of teachers may be based upon 
-earefully controlled judgment. In the absence of objective 
methods and data, it is not only legitimate to rely upon con- 
trolled subjective methods, it is the only recourse. 

Furthermore, it is unquestionably true that judgment is 


460 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


susceptible to training. The wide variations found in rating 
at present can in fact be reduced. Much stress has been 
placed upon differences and variations in judgment. The 
erroneous inference has been drawn that this is a fatal 
drawback. For instance teachers’ judgments of arithmetic 
papers, a supposedly exact matter, are often cited to show 
wide variations in judgment, with the accompanying in- 
ference that fair judgment is impossible. Two vital facts 
are overlooked in such studies. First, there was absolutely 
no previous preparation of the judges for the task, no agree- 
ment upon standards among the judges. Second, there was 
no period of training the judges in applying common stand- 
ards. In a study, which is far too little known, C. T. Gray 
shows very clearly that judgment can be trained and vari- 
ability definitely and materially reduced.® In this study in 
which teachers were trained to judge the handwriting of 
pupils there was a marked reduction of variability and in 
many cases high degree of agreement. The account con- 
tains also an excellent, brief analysis of objective and sub- 
jective factors in judgment. The type of judgment in- 
volved is not altogether identical with that involved in 
teacher-rating, but the illustration is entirely legitimate. 
Educational psychology has just begun to investigate the 
field of judgment, and much excellent research can be done 
here. 

There is no logical reason here for the abolition of rating, 
but rather reason for greater attention to the formulation 
and application of scales. 

Are rating schemes open to abuse? Yes, rating schemes 
are very often abused. They have very often been used in 
a manner not to the best interests of the teaching profes- 
sion. In the hands of an unfair, temperamental, narrow- 


9C. T. Gray, ‘‘The Training of Judgment in the Use of the Ayres 
Seale for Handwriting,’’ Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 6, 
Feb., 1915, pp. 85-98. 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 461 


minded supervisor, principal, or politician-superintendent 
there is no question but that a rating scheme offers un- 
limited opportunity for abuse. That many injustices have 
been worked in the application of the scales cannot be 
denied. Caution is necessary not only in making, but also 
in applying the scales, and in interpreting the results. 
Such schemes have been manipulated times without num- 
ber with a most disgusting disregard for professional 
ethics. Teachers have been ‘‘hired and fired’’ on whim, 
prejudice, personal likes and dislikes, ete. But logic should 
not be misled by hopes and fears. The rating of teachers 
has come to stay, just as efficiency ratings of one sort or 
another are found in practically every line of endeavor. 

Any scheme for promoting or demoting teachers, adjust- 
ing salaries, advising in regard to training, that might be 
substituted, would be open to the same abuses. The remedy 
is not abolition of rating but a demand for, and constant 
effort toward better scales and standards of supervisory 
training and personnel. Every safeguard should be thrown 
around rating. No pains should be spared to see that it is 
fair and just, based upon sufficient number of visits widely 
distributed, and if necessary, on the composite reports of 
several officers. The teachers have every right to know the 
standards by which they are being judged. The ratings 
should be open to their inspection, and they should have 
the right to ask for explanation and discussion of any 
rating. 

It should be noted here that practically all of the discus- 
sions by people opposed to rating stress the fact that teach- 
ers are unjustly dismissed or demoted by means of a rating 
scheme. ‘Teachers should bear in mind that rating scales 
are just as often manipulated and misapplied in order to 
keep inefficient teachers, possessed of a ‘‘pull,’’ in their 
positions or to gloss over the complete failure of hopelessly 
incompetent teachers who, for some reason or other, must be 


462 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


protected. The errors and dangers in rating scales are by 
no means all one-sided. They favor the teacher unfairly 
as often as they injure her unfairly. As has been stated, 
the cure for abuses in rating of any kind is insistence on 
better training and selection of supervisors, and upon com- 
posite rating, using the reports of several officers. The 
eards themselves should be codperatively determined. 

Does rating set up artificial and erroneous standards for 
the teacher? Here we have the first objection to rating 
which is directed partly against supervisory as well as ad- 
ministrative rating. Says one critic, ‘‘Did not rating stand 
in the way, she [the teacher] would confer with the prin- 
cipal and be able to prove to him, sometimes, that his meth- 
ods did not fit her class.’’? Complaints are constantly regis- 
tered by teachers who assert that certain supervisors insist 
on rigid adherence to certain methods, to certain units of 
subject matter, to the following of supervisory ‘‘hobbies’’ 
or pet subjects. The teacher is forced to adapt to these 
false personal standards rather than the real standards of 
good teaching. Many teachers honestly feel that divergence 
from the supervisor’s wishes would have a disastrous effect 
cn the rating mark. Even reasonable discussion of the 
right and wrong standards is not attempted by some teach- 
ers because of a like fear. Just how widespread this situa- 
tion is cannot be determined. Many of the eriticisms are 
baseless, many are exaggerated. Ground for complaint, 
however, undoubtedly exists. A definite study of given 
situations would supply data as to the extent of the diffi- 
culty. 

The fault clearly lies with the supervisor’s mental habit 
and point of view, and not with rating as such. Evaluating 
teachers’ efficiency has for its chief purpose improving the 
teacher in service. This necessitates standards. The stand- 
ards must be sound and legitimate, set forth in writing in 
the rating scheme and understood by all parties. The co- 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 463 


operative determination, application, and discussion of 
these standards is an essential in any sound rating scheme. 
Instead of setting up false standards and coming between 
rater and ratee, a rating scheme should bring both together 
in a most stimulating way in the task of setting up common 
standards of judgment. 

Finally, closing this discussion of the arguments against 
rating, it may be pointed out that teachers always have been 
rated and very probably always will be. The rating card 
is Just an attempt to bring rating into the open, to avoid 
secret ratings, indeterminate ratings and the like. It is 
an attempt to substitute more objective standards for the 
variable subjective elements which largely determine rating 
when no eard is used. 

Supervisory uses of rating. Until the very recent shift 
in interest back toward the original use of rating ecards as 
affecting tenure and salary, the emphasis had been more and 
more toward the supervisory uses of rating in the improve- 
ment of teachers in service. Whatever may result from the 
revived interest in administrative rating, supervisory rating 
will doubtless remain as the most important feature. 

As already pointed out, supervisory rating has been ser1- 
ously handicapped by the long-standing fear of and an- 
tagonism toward administrative rating. Many of the argu- 
ments concerning rating, including printed discussion by 
supposedly competent observers, are beside the point be- 
cause they do not clearly distinguish between the two uses. 

Obviously the two uses overlap at some points, and there 
should be a beneficial reflex one from the other. For in- 
stance, it was pointed out that lack of professional spirit 
among average teachers and lack of courage among admin- 
istrators prevents the operation of a merit scheme. The 
difficulties in the way are professional and would more 
naturally be attacked by supervisory means. The end de- 
sired is an administrative one. Furthermore an honest at- 


464 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


tempt to use this administrative rating scheme in the face 
of the serious professional difficulties might aid in eliminat- 
ing the supervisory perplexity. If the merit scheme brought 
about higher training levels, it would make inevitable 
higher salaries. These two factors would combine to at- 
tract to teaching constantly better material, thus ma- 
terialiy raising the professional spirit and outlook of the 
entire group—a supervisory result. In the meantime 
supervisory rating devoted toward the improvement of 
teachers in service would be contributing to the same result. 

Doubtless the final administrative rating should be made 
up on the basis of results from careful and continuous 
supervisory rating. 

The uses of supervisory rating in the improvement of 
teaching are numerous and varied. In Chapter IV there 
was quoted the outline of a series of teachers’ meetings 
having for their aim the study of a new rating scheme. 
The study of the scheme necessitated a careful study of the 
elements in good teaching, of the selection of subject mat- 
ter, of the organization of subject matter for instruction, 
ete. 

The cooperative evolution of a rating system is a very 
excellent supervisory procedure in itself. 

In Chapter V there is presented a scheme for studying 
the teacher’s work by means of analytic statements of 
teacher and pupil activity. These check lists, observation 
outlines, and the like, are definite devices in supervisory 
rating. They focus attention on what is desired, on the 
elimination of errors, and supply a common standard for 
all eoneerned. They are summary statements of the ele- 
ments of good teaching, and thus supplement standards for 
evaluating teaching. 

Given a codperatively determined scale, impersonally ap- 
plied by trained experts and discussed openly and sympa- 
thetically, there are several possibilities. The ambitious and 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 465 


conscientious teacher can be spurred on to the eradication 
of some unnoticed defect revealed by critical examination. 
In the ease of the teacher who is lacking in ambition and 
pride, a rating should serve as a legitimate and deserved 
warning. For the younger and inadequately trained 
teacher the elements in the scheme may stand as standards 
of achievement. No one claims that rating will remake the 
teachers to whom it is applied; it may even fail to produce 
any results at all with some teachers. The plan, however, 
does undoubtedly possess possibility for much stimulation 
toward professional growth. 

Self-rating. One of the most significant and important. 
developments in the field has been self-rating. Interest is 
widespread and application in actual practice has been very 
rapid. Results have been highly satisfactory so far. An 
excellent summary statement is to be found in Rugg’s 
article: 1° 


. if a rating scheme is to be truly helpful, its chief ele- 
ment must be self-improvement through self-rating. Improve- 
ment of teachers in service rests directly upon the initial step of 
self-criticism. It is conceivable that this could be stimulated 
by the personal exhortation of the principal. It rarely is, how- 
ever. It can be stimulated from within more helpfully and 
continuously, provided objective, impersonal schemes can be de- 
veloped by which teachers can be made critically conscious of 
their strengths and weaknesses. Thus, rating schemes to the: 
present time have revealed an important defect, in that they 
were nearly always an administrative scheme superimposed from: 
above. 


The last sentence in the quotation focuses attention on @ 
marked defect in the past use of rating. Not only should 
teachers contribute to the formulation of rating schemes, 


10H. O. Rugg, ‘‘Self-Improvement through Self-Rating, A New 
Scale for Rating Teachers’ Efficiency,’’?’ Elementary School Journal, 
Vol. 19,:p.. 670. 


466 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


but the first application should probably be by the teacher 
herself. She might make two or three ratings at different 
times and then compare them. This can be followed by a 
comparison with the supervisor’s rating and a free, im- 
personal discussion of any differences noted. The more 
frankly the making and applying of scales can be worked 
out, the more teachers will understand the uses, values, and 
dangers involved. Much of the dissatisfaction on the part 
of teachers is due to the fact that they not only have no 
part in making schemes, but they never see their ratings 
afterward. In many places the teacher gets no reaction 
whatever. 

As stated above, this will make also for better agreement 
upon the essentials and for more objectivization in grading. 
Such outlines as are given in Chapter V in this book ean be 
used. by the teacher to make the questions more meaningful. 
For instance, rating schemes often ask such questions as: 
““Does the teacher conduct drill lessons well?’’ A teacher 
may have a vague idea that she does or does not and have 
no accurate realization at all of wherein her drills are 
strong or weak. By turning to the outline of questions on 
drill, her thought is focused on all the different phases in- 
volved and she is more easily able to locate her difficulty or 
‘strong point. 

An excellent clearly written account of a codperatively 
determined and applied scale will be found in an article by 
‘Connor, ‘‘A New Method of Rating Teachers,’’ Journal of 
Educational Research, May, 1920, pages 338-58. This score 
ecard is remarkable also for its reduction of questions in- 
volved into terms of pupil activity. This latter phase of 
‘Connor’s article makes it unique in the literature of teacher 
rating. 

The status of rating. Early in 1925 a number of gradu- 
ate students at the University of Cincinnati gathered infor- 
mation concerning rating as it is carried on in most of the 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 467 


cities and towns of the country. Tabular results cannot be 
presented due to differences in gathering the material, but 
the following statements are conservative interpretations of 
the data compiled: 


1. The number of cities using ratings in some form is more 
than twice the number of cities not using ratings. 

2. There was noted a marked reawakening of interest in ad- 
ministrative uses of rating. There was no diminution of interest 
in supervisory rating. 

3. Ninety-seven per cent of superintendents answering were 
in favor of rating “in principle.” About thirty per cent admitted 
honestly that they were either not using rating cards or were 
meeting with considerable difficulty. 

4. A few vigorous, almost violent negative statements were 
received. Opposition to, or failure of rating seemed to be, in 
every case, due to local conditions: 

(a) The superintendent went too fast for his community 

(b) No use was made of ratings after they had been com- 
piled 

(c) Teacher antagonism became too serious to continue 

5. Three large cities have recently discontinued rating chiefly 
because of teacher dissatisfaction and the difficulty of using the 
results later. On the other hand many cities are starting the use 
of cards. 

6. Rating seemed far more successful in smaller cities than 
in larger ones. 

7. Rating is usually done by the building principal, the 
general supervisor, or the two together. It is less often done 
by the superintendent or assistant superintendents. 

8. Self-rating is being introduced rapidly and widely. 

9. A distinct tendency was noted to make the ratings open 
to the teachers. Teachers in many places may see their ratings 
and ask for a discussion with the rating officer. 

10. A distinct tendency was noted toward cooperative foenelat 
tion and application of the cards.1? 


11 The above general summary can be supplemented by reference 
to a comprehensive and valuable study recently made by L. A. King, 
‘‘The Present Status of Teacher Rating,’’ School Board Journal, 
Vol. 70, Feb., 1925, pp. 44 7f. 


468 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


An examination of the several score cards gathered shows 
that they fall pretty generally into three classes: 


1. An unorganized list of points. Vague and indefinite. No 
standards given. 

2. A card of the “Boyce” type. This is modeled after the 
one published by Boyce in the Fourteenth Yearbook of the Na- 
tional Society for the Study of Education. A few main headings 
with sub-points. Standards are usually given. 

3. Intricate and detailed. Efforts made to make the points 
objective. Efforts at “mathematical precision” in results. Only 
a few of this type have appeared. 


In McClure’s study of the rating of principals he found 
a somewhat similar organization of rating cards.” 

Types of rating cards. Score cards have been made out 
by many supervisors and research departments so that an 
unlimited variety is available. The examples given here 
are typical, each of a certain group of scales. Many others 
in each of the classes illustrated are available. Supervisors 
should introduce their teachers to the problem of rating 
through a discussion of the needs, purposes, methods, and 
dangers involved. Samples of different scales should be 
available and applied in practice and new scales should be 
constructed by the group. 

Example of brief, compact, rating card. The following 
set of questions is typical of the unorganized list used in 
many places: 7° 


12 Worth McClure, ‘‘The Rating of Elementary School Principals 
in Service,’’ Fourth Yearbook, Department of Elementary School 
Principals, 1925, p. 427. 

13 Bertha Y. Hebb, ‘‘Samples of Teacher Self-Rating Cards,’’ 
City School Leaflet No. 18, Feb., 1925, United States Bureau of 
Education, pp. 4-5. 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 469 


TEACHERS’ SELF-EFFICIENCY TEST 


To the Teacher: 

This efficiency test for teachers is presented in the hope that 
it will be helpful in determining some of the more common faults 
in teaching, without the criticism of others. These questions are 
intended neither to offer anything new nor to cover the entire field 
of efficiency in teaching. They are intended merely as a re- 
minder of a few points which are generally acknowledged to be 
good pedagogy. 

The test is not to be handed in or shown to anyone. It is 
sumply for your own guidance to be used in any way you see fit. 

Grade yourself on each question from zero to 100 per cent; add 
all the grades together and divide by 20. The result should be 
your efficiency as a teacher. 


Are you in the best of health? 

. Are you happy and contented out of school? 

Are you in sympathy with child life? 

Do you thoroughly enjoy the work you are doing? 

. Are you thoroughly prepared for the work? 

. Are you loyal to the school system and your coworkers? 

. Do you take an active part in the social life of the com- 
munity ? 

8. Do you keep posted on educational affairs by reading the 
daily papers, professional magazines, attending teachers’ 
meetings, and belonging to and attending the meetings 
of teachers’ associations in your section and state? 

9. Do you make use of every possible opportunity for the 
teaching of patriotism? 

10. Do you know the home conditions of all of your boys and 
girls? 

11. Do you make all your assignments “ully, clearly, and defi- 
nitely? 

12. Do you plan your work carefully and systematically? 

13. Do you prepare each lesson carefully? 

14. Do you carefully supervise the study of your pupils? 

15. Are you able to keep your pupils interested? 

16. Do your pupils do at least 75 per cent of the talking 
during the recitations? 

17. Do you teach your classes with your textbook closed when- 

ever you ask your pupils to close theirs? 


NOTP WDE 


470 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


18. Are you able to translate the textbook into terms of 
everyday life? 

19. Can you be firm in discipline and at the same time make 
your pupils feel that you are absolutely just? 

20. Are you a thorough optimist and are you able to impart 
your optimism to your pupils? 


A better type of brief card makes some attempt to organ- 
ize the points. The example given below is typical of those 
schemes which aim to get at the important features of a 
teacher’s efficiency as quickly as possible: 7* 


A. Estimate of the total efficiency of the teacher (social, moral, 
educational, etc.) in her relationships to the school, com- 
munity, ete. 


B. General estimate of the teacher’s actual teaching ability. 


C. Specific items rated on basis of class recitations: 

1. Speech (modulation and quality, rate, enunciation). 

2. Governing skill. (Are pupils serious or flippant, nat- 
ural or constrained?) 

3. Use of English. (By pupils and teachers.) 

4. Teacher’s skill in the organization of the material of 
the recitation. 

5. Teacher’s ability to fix the recitation in its proper set- 
ting in the course of study. (Connecting work with 
preceding and following recitations.) 

6. Proper stressing of relative values. (Distinguishing 
fundamental from accessory.) 

7. Skill in directing habit formation. 

8. Skill in questioning. (Are the questions clear, rele- 
vant, too many, too difficult, too plainly suggestive 
of the answer?) 

9. Skill and care in assignment. (Making clear to the 
pupils the amount of material to be covered and 
preparing them for it.) 

10. Choice and use of illustrative material. 


14 J. H. Johnston, ‘‘Scientific Supervision of Teaching,’’ School 
and Society, Vol. 5, Feb. 17, 1917, p. 182. 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 471 


D. General estimate of the teacher’s actual teaching efficiency. 
(Made after specific rating of points above.) 


K. Teacher’s total years of experience. 
F. Number of years in present town. 


G. Training: Number of years in high school, normal, col- 
lege. 


The first item, A, is a general rating and refers to a 
teacher’s total efficiency. Item B and item D refer to one 
and the same point, namely, the teacher’s actual teaching 
skill. The first rating B is made before examining the 
questions or observing the teacher in the light of definite 
questions. The rating D is then made after a particularized 
observation and compared with the original B score. All 
points in the scale are graded from 1 to 10, 1 being excep- 
tionally good and 10 very poor. Scales of this type are 
easily made and tried out. 

Sometimes a card is so organized that several answers are 
included and the reader underlines or checks the proper 
points, for example: ?° 


1. Scholarship: Superior, good, medium, inefficient. 

2. Daily preparation: Careful, fair, medium, unsatisfac- 
tory. 

3. Instruction: Thorough, accurate, indefinite, inaccurate. 

4. Ability to hold attention of class: Marked, fair, slight. 

5. General success in teaching: Excellent, good, fair, 
poor. : 

6. Tact in management: Excellent, good, fair, poor. 

7. Spirit of her room: Excellent, good, fair, poor. 

8. Appearance of her room: Tidy, orderly, disorderly, un: 
tidy. 

9. Professional spirit and industry: Excellent, moderate, 
weak. 

10. Health: Good, medium, poor. 


15 Bertha Y. Hebb, op. cit., p. 6. 


472 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


The ecard proceeds similarly through twenty-five points. 
Another illustration taken from a much-used ecard is as 
follows: 1° 





Pupil Response 


_S— | | 


1. Pupils seem happy...| majority eae minority | few 
2. Pupils ask questions. | freely pte rarely 
3. Pupils volunteer con- 
tributions 2.) ee freely wee rarely 
4. Pupils show initia- 
Live Hoa cee much es little repressed 
5. Pupils think inde- 
pendently........ regularly eae sometimes | little 
6. Habit of independent 
Stud yi GLa excellent | good fair poor 
7. Pupils test own re- 
BULLE ne Cate in fete regularly | occasionally| seldom disregard 
8. Pupil correlation. ...| habitual hae infrequent | discouraged 
9. Character response. .| definitely sae indifferent | definitely 
beneficial injurious 
10. Pupil ambition re- 
BOOTISG oitis faible stokes definitely ONT indifferent | definitely 
beneficial injurious 
11. Parent’s reaction favorable ob silence complaints 
12. Attitude toward 
teaching ./5/5.2 22.4% attracted 2 ee “not for 
mine’”’ 


This card includes a similar organization for ‘‘spirit of 
teaching’’ ‘‘lesson conduct,’’ ‘‘lesson assignment,’’ and 
“‘“lesson preparedness. ”’ 

The Boyce card. As stated above, one of the three classes 
of rating cards is modeled very clearly after a card pub- 
lished by Boyce in the Fourteenth Yearbook. This ecard 
received wide publicity upon its publication and has been 
included as a sample in many standard texts since. It is 
in very wide use throughout the country. Various modi- 
fications, usually minor, are to be found. The ecard in use 
at Antigo, Wisconsin, is a replica of the Boyce eard.1” 





16 Ibid., p. 1. 
17 Ibid., pp. 2-4. 


te ow, 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 473 


ANTIGO, WIS. 


REPORT ON THE TEACHING EFFICIENCY 


(To help teachers discover their own strength and weakness) 


of 

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Directions 
1. Read the Explanation of Terms before making the following 

report: 


2. Opposite each quality is a scale on which may be indicated 
all shades of judgment from “Very poor” to “Excellent.” 
After due consideration place on this scale a small cross (x) 
indicating your judgment of the teacher as to that quality. 





Example 
Qualities of Merit Very Me Excel- 
Poor Poor dium Good lent 
‘General Appearance............ x 
FIGRILID, Sheet ee 00S x 
Ade Tee Sparen 1 cy Ae re a x 


This card often contains from two to eight divisions in each 
of the five columns given, thus making possible shades of judg- 
ment. 


3. Record your judgment on General Rating in the same way 
after completing the detailed record. General Rating is 
your estimate of general merit and is to be made on the basis 
of the detailed record. 


474 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


EFFICIENCY RECORD 


GENERA - RATING Seteifea pk See ok OLAa ae ee ete ere 


Qualities of Merit 


ee 


——— | —. | | | 


I. Personal Equipment: 


1. General appearance. . 
20Tlealth wig Pisa oe: 
SV DICE SG sat ee Cerne 
4. Intellectual capacity. . 
5. Initiative and self-re- 
HACER oe earn 
6. Adaptability and re- 
sourcefulness....... 
4e A CCUPACY . Use eee: 
8. Industry... 
9. Enthusiasm and op- 
timism 77 eee 
10. Integrity and sincerity. 
11. Self-control. 13.9270. see 
12.“Promptness ©. Sar ai ee 


AS Lact. h cnu ae eeee RiaNe 
14. Sense of justice.......] .. 
II. Social and Professional 

Equipment: 


. Academic preparation. 
. Professional prepara- 
TOD sca es eee 


children ?.ae. le ee 
. School and community 
Interest. oon ws. 
. Ability to meet and 
interest parents..... 
. Interest in lives of 
Dupe querer eee 
. Codperation and loy- 
alty .cttieis Re 
. Professional interest 

and growth........ 
. Daily preparation..... 
. Use of English....... 


oO N OD oO fF WY Ne 


— bet 
— © 





EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 475 


EFFICIENCY REecorp—Continued 


Qualities of Merit 


III. School Management: 


if 
2. 


Care of light, heat and 
ventilation.20.729". . 
Neatness of room..... 


sloll),2y wee. ees 


IV. Technique of Teaching: 


1. 


Definiteness and clear- 


$hought eas woe 


2 
3 
4, Skill in teaching how 
5. 
6 
iy 
8 
9 


LO, St Woes pant cans 
Skill in questioning... 


. Choice of subject mat- 
te 


. Organization of sub- 


ject: matter...) ..: 


. Skill and care in as- 


Bignmeny. soe oe 


. Skill in motivating 


rere te een! 


10. Attention to individ- 
ual needs.......... 

V. Results: 
1. Attention and = re- 


sponse of the class. .. 


. Growth of pupils in 


subject matter..... 


. Social development of 


2 
3 
4. 
5 


NEVES ee pr ae Mii 
Stimulation of com- 
PAUNIGVE 2 ory sess 


. Moral influence...... 


—_—_. | ———— | | —_— | 





476 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Hzplanation of Terms 


I. Personal equipment includes physical, mental and moral 
qualities. 


L 


rf 


10. 


13. 


14. 


General appearance: Physique, carriage, dress, and 
personal neatness. 


3. Voice: Pitch, quality, clearness of schoolroom voice. 
4, 
5. Initiative and self-reliance: Independence in origi- 


Intellectual capacity: Native mental ability. 


nating and carrying out ideas. 

Accuracy: In statements, records, reports, and school 
work. 

Integrity and sincerity: Soundness of moral prin-- 
ciples and genuineness of character. 

Tact: Adroitness; address; quick appreciation of the 
proper thing to do or say. 

Sense of justice: Fairmindedness; ability to give all 
a “square deal.” 


IT. Social and professional equipment includes qualities making” 
the teacher better able to deal with social situations and 
particularly the school situation. 

1. Academic preparation: School work other than pro-- 


ab D 


fessional. 


. Professional preparation: Preparation of a technical 


nature. 


. Grasp of subject matter: Command of the informa- 


tion to be taught or the skill to be developed. 


. Understanding of children: Sympathetic insight into 


child nature of a scientific and practical kind. 


. School and community interest: Interest in the life 


of the school and of the community. 


. Interest in lives of pupils: Desire to know and help 


pupils personally, both as to their present condition 
and future prospects. 


. Codperation and loyalty: Attitude toward colleagues 


and superior officers. 


. Professional interest and growth: Effort to keep up 


to date and improve. 
Use of English: Vocabulary, grammar, ease of ex~ 
pression. 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 477 


IIIf. School management includes mechanical and routine factors. 
3. Care of routine: Saving time and energy by reducing 
frequently recurring details to mechanical organi- 
zation. 
4, Discipline (governing skill) : Character of order main- 
tained and skill shown in maintaining it. 


IV. Technique of teaching includes skill in actual teaching and 
in the conduct of the recitation. 
1. Definiteness and clearness of aim: Of each lesson 
and of the work as a whole. 
2. Skill in habit formation: Skill in establishing auto- 
matic responses quickly and permanently. 
3. Skill in stimulating thought: Giving opportunity for 
and direction in reflective thinking. 
4, Skill in teaching how to study: Establishing economi- 
eal and efficient habits of study. 
5. Skill in questioning: Character and distribution of 
questions; replies elicited. 
6. Choice of subject matter: Skill with which the teacher 
selects the material of instruction to suit the in- 
7 terests, abilities, and needs of the class. 
7. Organization of subject matter: The lesson plan and 
the system in which the subject matter is presented. 
9. Skill in motivating work: Arousing interest and giv- 
ing pupils proper incentives for work. 
10. Attention to individual needs: Teacher’s care for in- 
dividual differences, peculiarities, and difficulties. 


V. Results include evidence of the success of the above condi- 
tions and skill. 

1. Attention and response of the class: Extent to which 
all of the class are interested in the essential part 
of the lesson and respond to the demands made on 
them. 

2. Growth of pupils in subject matter: Shown by pupils’ 
ability to.do work of advanced class and to meet 
more successfully whatever tests are made of their 
school work. 

3. Social development of pupils: Increase in pupils’ 
ability and power along lines other than those of 
subject matter. 

4. Stimulation of community: Effect on life of the 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


478 





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SUTHOVAT, ONILVY UOX WIVOG ALLAHOY ao Luvg 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 479 


community tending to improve or stimulate its vari- 


ous activities. 
5. Moral influence: Extent to which the teacher raises 
the moral tone of the pupils or of the school. 


Sometimes a card of this nature attempts to provide a 
weighting system of some sort or other. It has been shown 
statistically that weighted points.are not more accurate 
than non-weighted. A survey of the opinions of super- 
visors and teachers show that a non-weighted card is looked 
upon with more favor than a weighted one, because of the 
ease of administration (see sample on opposite page).?® 

Still another combines both the weighting and prepared 
answer idea: ?° 


SUPERVISING AND SELF-RATING ScorRE Carp 


(B) Pupil Activity +3 -++1 —1 —3 
1. Physical attitude. active good indifferent lounging 
attention position position 
2. Mental attitude.. alert passive indifference rebellion 
interest attention 
3. Initiative....... much some litile none 
well directed 
4. Expression...... fluent concise vague slangy —bad 
grammar 
5. Loui tase). wk. complete fairly poor very bad 
and clear good 
6. Judging values... notable some slight none 
7. Organization. ... adequate fair slight none 
8. Motives........ vital good slight or none good 
questionable 
9. Behavior........ excellent good questionable bad 
10. Attitude toward 
teacher and class. excellent fair questionable bad 


Example of an elaborate rating card. One of the most 
important contributions is a card entitled, ‘‘A Rating Seale 


18 T. H. Schutte, ‘‘Schutte Scale for Rating Teachers’’ (copyright, 
1923, by World Book Co., Yonkers-on-Hudson, N. Y.). 

19 Ellsworth Lowry, ‘‘Supervising and Self-Rating Score Card’’ 
(privately published). Mr. Lowry is in the State Normal School 
at Indiana, Pennsylvania. 


480 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


for Judging Teachers in Service,’’ by Rugg,?? described in 
the article mentioned above. On this card the teacher’s 
qualities are divided into five classes, and under each head- 
ing are grouped definite questions, each of which is to be 
checked as ‘‘low,’’ ‘‘average,’’ or ‘‘high.’’ This first part 
of the scale was developed by means of a most careful and 
painstaking process in which teachers, principals, and su- 
perintendents participated. 

The second part of the scale is a device for rating by 
direct comparison. <A scale is made by writing in the names 
of five teachers known to the rater as the most typical 
teachers in each of the following groups: best, average, 
poorest, better than average, poorer than average. The 
method of selecting the names to use in this type of scale is 
described in detail on the back of the card, which is here 
reproduced in facsimile. After the difficult and arduous 
task of constructing this comparison scale has once been 
performed, it suffices for some time and gives, according 
to Rugg, a seale of considerable reliability. Some critics 
of the scheme feel that it would be difficult to construct a 
scale using the names of teachers so that very many people 
could be familiar enough with the names used to apply the 
completed ecard. 

Teaching, not teachers to be rated. It will be noted 
that in most of the cards, rating is in terms of the teacher 
or of teaching activity. There is a distinet tendency to rate 
the doer instead of the deed. Based upon an analysis of 
twenty-two rating schemes, each of which had been widely 
used, Phillips concludes that the method of teaching is almost 
two and one half times as important as the results ob- . 
tained.?4. This is obviously not the best way to organize the 
matter. The movement which has been general in the coun- 


20 Rugg, op. cit., pp. 670-84. 
21K. D. Phillips, ‘‘A Self-Rating Scale for Teachers,’’ School 
Board Journal, Vol. 66, Sept., 1923, pp. 45-46. 


Name of Teacher 


School 
Subjects 


Date of Rating 





A Rating Scale for Judging Teachers in Service 
SELF-IMPROVEMENT THROUGH SELF-RATING 
FORM A—For analyzing and rating the teacher’s qualities—by the teacher himself; and by the 


















administrator. (Rate by checking in one of three groups for each question) 
L. SKILL IN TEACHING Il. os in the poate 3 a Ill. Team Work B 3 |TV. Qualities of Growth es 3/5 Vv. aie ipsearieec: Social |» ae 
oO! anaging a Class Slali Qualities Qlaliz and Keeping Up-to-date 4 < cal 1 A he baad 
To what extent: To what extent— To what extent— To what extent— To what extent— 
1.Does the class work .1. Does he co-operate with 1. Does he read profession- 1. Does- he attract people 






















proceed smoothly (with- 
out artificial interrup- 
tions and_ transitions 
from one kind of dis- 
cussion to another)... 


Does he select subject matter effectively for class reading and 
discussion 


2 


2.Do the pupils attend 
naturally and spontane- 
ously to the work of 4 
the lesson.....3...... 
3. Does order, or discipline 
inhere in the work (not 
nt maintained by compul- 
Is he skillful in conducting the class discussion. ., 51on nor suppression). . 
a. Resourcefulness in organizing a discussion and ; 
onthisntack? 4.Is routine, as passing 


6 


6 


other teachers in school 
activities (committee 
work, Parent-Teacher 
Association, etc).... 
- Does he contribute to 
faculty meetings.’.... 


se 


8.Is he loyal to the ad- 


ministration and to 
other teachers....'.... 
- Does he suggest plans 
for group improvement 
of the school....... b 
-Does he shoulder re- 
sponsibility for his own 
acts 
-Do pupils go to’ him 
voluntarily for advice 
and conference....... 


ee 


al literature — books, 
journals, etc... 


2. Does he participate in 
and contribute to the 
discussion of education 
al meetings (teachers’ 
association, etc.)....... 


8. Does he take extension 
courses, attend summer 
sessions, etc.. 


4. Does he éxperiment with 
new methods. in teach 
ing which others havi 
suggested. ...... 


5: Does he invent and ex- 
periment with new meth 


eeseree 


eerwcebes 


to him. (i. e. is he in- 
terested -primarily in 
what others are doing). 


2.Does he meet people 
easily .ccccccees 


8. Does he recognize the 
importance of trimness 
in dress and genefal 
personal appearance... 


4.Is he “fine-grained” (i. 
e, is he sensitive to so- 
cial proprieties) ..% 0... 


5. Does. his impression of 
his own ability operate 
to handicap his, effec- 


enews 




























material, moving to: the} i i - i sie eleieiee ajaie 
blackboard, ete., econo- ey Coste aha bok pus vel Ienenine a eat seer eh ‘ : 
mically and systemati- students ce. ccc. cb 6.Does he heartily co- 6. Is he effectively aggres- 
cally organized........ 8. Does he acquaint him- operate in investiga- sive in conversation and 
5 tase i : self with pupils’ home tional sheet Pe which conference ...s.ececcee 
5 rial and equip- diti it i various schools partici- rea 
ment in the room effec- pride eke yar a 7 PATE! Galseiepc es as ates 7. ee iat int senior 
‘tively arranged........ 9. Does he participate in 7.D h nee A ates eh OEE SS 
coikniun leew aetivitick - Does is par ee e€ on and patrons........ aise 
6. Does he pay attention to outside the school.... atest td ie Gh aubieckt 8.Does he “eventuate,” 
: ) the details of heat, light 10. Are his records and re- ? i, e. does he carry 
1. Are lessons well related to previous ones and ventilation........ ports in on time and in 8.Does he contribute to through- projects which 
2.Is. material ‘‘organized”’ complete form....... educational literature. . he starts...... pitas ve 
Summary Rating........ Summary Rating.. ees 5 Summary Rating........ Summary Rating. wieseee| 
; : : SELF.IMPROVEMENT THROUGH.SELF-RATING 
2. ec ake pupils ee Mt other and conduct the class in- 
; ependently of his formal dijrection.......... gaat ate . 2 és ~ ° 
e. Skill in making the assignment TO THE TEACHER— Rate yourself on each quality on this-form. It will.be.a.first step in self-iniprove- 


ment. It is important that you stand high in these qualities. 
TO THE PRINCIPAL OR SUPERINTENDENT— Let the teacher rate himself on each question at 


least once,each term. Self-analysis is tie first step in sélf-improvement. To analyze human qualities. 
well, one needs a definite and detailed guide, For effective teacher rating, both teacher and adminis- 
trator should rate and confer on specific qualities which make for good teaching. A valuable file of the 
administrator’s analyses of his teachers can be kept in the office. 





RATING BY DIRECT COMPARISON 


Containing the names of typical teachers who can’ be compared with tthe teacher to be rated. 


FORM B—tThe Rating Scale: 


(Primarily for Princ:pals and Superintendents in‘ the Rating of Teachers) 


aes 





II, Skill in the Mechanics of 






I. Skill in Teaching IV. Qualities of Growth and Keeping 


. V. Personal and Social Qualities 
















































a Managing a Class III. Team-Work Qualities Up-to-Date 
Ses Best Best Bes an 
st t 
_ Teacher. : B oe wN SS | <s cc coceveranpeescnutceseescacesstadeete coor] UE CACHE 5 OS]. custo nat ence es cee eee Teac hers’, | SS iecescsecccncccarstestsccccscsscesccorerere: roy 3/38] 
Better than etter than Better than Better than Better than | 
Average.. INSEE BY eee a Wier ie cena AVeragess|3 02g. estc cee Averages] S0 [i Sener eee ee toetuceeeteeee, Average..]30| 
pol AAV. CPA Gere tele | 2] ps eaten eee eee ee AVOTARCN. ove| Se |crectcrsscoctaecs asosicons A " 22 i Rie ere ngs 7 sr 
Poorer theg Doone iat ee eecstermnnsenasece cece - Yereetrng Ol Dall -scseraseccsceeecoccresseedse ee ‘ thee dt saw ¥ 
= VGYAL! 5) 1 4) occ csecessccetececateeeeeeee eee Average .¢|14) ee ee een oe eee Averael::t14}o ace neee ccs ‘Averages; |14|\) cnn eer ie a 
porest Poorest Poorest Poorest = ; eease 
CACHEL ie'!) F/G! caccax ascevereenacversecesneeeere eee Teacher vis'|\(Olssscs.cecatrce eee e ee Teacher sili 6 sacetscccsssecssrectekraseesaeraree ace Teacher..| 6) / aye 
———— ee SD 
spuaserhesretsceecree crtreresesseneeees-eee SUMMary Numerical Rating........... Ae pl Summary, Numerical Rating. 
Total Numerical Rating?) 73.5 


Haroitp O. Ruea’s TEACHER-RATING SCALE To face page 480 


PURPOSES AND USE OF THE RATING FORMS FOR EITHER HIGH SCHOOL OR COLLEGE STUDENTS OR FOR TEACHERS 


(The forms for I, the teacher, and II, the high school and college student, differ only in content of 
the groups of qualities and definitional questions. Therefore, the same description applies to either.) 


I. It is important to recognize that there are two 
separate and distinct features to this rating form. 


First — Self-Improvement Through Self-Rating. 
It is designed primarily for the student or teacher to 
rate himself. The first step in self-improvement is to 
be made critical of the extent to which one exhibits 
certain traits. Furthermore, clear recognition of one’s 
deficiencies can and does lead to definite self-improve- 
ment. Form A, therefore, is of primary importance in 
improving the student, or the teacher in service. To 
bring about self-improvement, therefore, both student 
and teacher should rate themselves, at least once each 
year, each question on the form being answered. 


Second—The Rating Scale. A method of giving 
a person a numerical rating (116, or 132, or 74, etc.) 
of which the reliability -is definitely known, and with 
which others’. ratings can be directly compared; fur- 
thermore, a rating which cannot be confused with the 
commonly used “per cent” marking system of the pub- 
lic schools. This scheme provides a method of direct 
comparison by which a teacher (or student) is rated 
on five different groups of qualities, by being compared 
directly with five others, whose names have been 
assigned definite positions on the scale. These five 
-‘persons are selected so as to represent respectively 
(1) the best teacher (or student) the rator has ever 
known; (5) the poorest; (3 )the representative “aver- 
age” teacher (or student); (2) the person midway 
between the best and the average; (4) the one midway 
between average and the poorest. A definite number 
of points is assigned to each of these five positions 
on the scale; for example, 38, 30, 22, 14, 6, respectively. 
Thus a person is given a single numerical rating by 
totalling the points he is given on each of the five 
groups of qualities. In the case of teachers, this is of 
especial importance in rating for promotion. 

The scale is-so°coristructed that a teacher who repre- 
sents “average” in each will receive a score of 110; 
a teacher who represénts “best” in each will receive a 
score of, 190; and the one who represents “poorest” 
will receive a score of 30. 


II: HOW TO CONSTRUCT A RATING SCALE. 
(Form B.) 
A. Two important facts: 

1. It is very difficult to make a rating seale properly. 
A scale cannot be constructed: in less than two or 
three hours, 

2.Once made, the scale needs but little modification 
from year to year. 

B. Necessary steps in the construction of a scale. 
porte are three major steps, in constructing a rating 
scale. 

First: step? Write down a list of 25-30'teachers (or 


students) ranging from the very best to the very 
poorest in your acquaintance, for each of whom you 
can answer the questions of Form A of the Rating 
Card. 


Important: (1) The list must nof contain less than 
25 names. It must contain some very poor teachers, 
some very good teachers, and a considerable number 
of “average” teachers. 


Second step: Arrange this list in rank order of 
merit from the “best” to the “poorest,” separately for 
each of the five groups of qualities. 


Important: In ranking .persons for one group of 
qualities (say “skill in teaching”), the other groups of 
qualities must be absolutely ignored. The arrangement 
of the list in rank order is the most difficult and im- 
portant single step in the construction of a rating scale, 
Experimentation has shown that to do it successfully, 
the most effective method is as follows: 


(1) Locate each person in the list in one of three 
groups for each question in each group of qualities on 
Form A. A study of this checking should enable you to 
rearrange the teachers, or students, on your original 
lis in from three to five groups. 


(2) Next, therefore, group the teachers on the orig- 
inal list in at least three and, if possible, five groups 
—say put in one group the few who are markedly 
“best”; in another, the few who are clearly “poorest,” 
and the remainder in a third group who exhibit 


various degrees of “mediocrity.” If the large mediocre’ 


group can next be separated into two or three groups, 
it will facilitate the next step, viz.: 


(3) Rearrange the persons in each group so that 
they stand in exact rank order. This will be most 
difficult to do in connection with the “average” groups. 


(4) Complete the final “rank order” arrangement of 
the entire list by comparing the teachers near the 
limits of the adjacent groups, e. g., further direct man 
to man comparison may result in interchanging indi- 
viduals from, say, a “better than average” to an “aver- 
age” group. 


When the original list is finally arranged in the rank 
order, you are ready for the 


Third and last step in the construction of a 
rating scale: Select five persons to occupy the five 


positions on the scale in each group of - qualities. 
Do this as follows: 


(1) make a final decision as 
to which of the two or three persons in the “rank 
order” list is really the “best” one you ever knew 
and can now ase for purpases of scale-comparison; 
(2) Select in ‘same way the, “poorest” for the scale. 
(3) From the two or three who stand uearest the 
middle of the list, decide upon the best one to repre- 


sent the “average” position on the scale; (4 and 5). 
similarly with the ones to occupy the position half 
way between the average and best, and half way 
between average and poorest. These are called 
respectively “better than average’ and “poorer than 
average.” 


Important: Experimentation and experience in the 
army has shown that the scale, can be made properly 
only by carrying through these major steps separately 
for each group of qualities on the scale. 


III. HOW TO RATE TEACHERS ON THE SCALE. 


1. The rating is to be made for one group of 
qualities at a time, giving each person a stated num- 
ber of points for that quality. It is done by com- 
paring the person’s qualities directly with those of 
the others whose names appear on the scale. Visual- 
ize each one as vividly as possible, thus locating a 
person at a particular point .on the scale. Be sure 
to give him the exact number of page that you 
think represents his position on the scale. The 
numerical values, 38, 30,22, 14 and 6 have been 
selected to, give you considerable opportunity to 
assign values between these set points; For example, 
in the long run nearly as many should receive 23, 
or21 as 22, which is the “average” point of the scale. 


Important: In case you are unable to decide clear- 
ly between the person -you are rating and those 
whose names are on the scale, examine the results 
of checking the definitional questions in that group 
of qualities in Form A. This will enable you to com- 
pare them more concretely. 


2. The total rating of a person is obtained by add- 
ing the number of points given him on each of the 
five groups of qualities, writing this in the com- 
partment of the card, left for the total rating at the 
lower right hand corner. 


Important: Scales for the rating of Students 
should be made in group conference. ‘All teachers 
who know the same set of students. should come 
together and construct scales which .will contain 
relatively the same names. Jt is fundamentally im- 
portant that names assigned to particular scale-posi- 
tions (“best,” “average,” “poorest,” etc.) be the 
same on the scales of different teachers. Otherwise 
the numerical ratings made against these scale-posi- 
tions by various teachers may not closely agree. If 
teachers, in conference, can agree on the names of 
students to go on the scales, numerical ratings made 
against these will have very -great reliability. 


For information concerning the construction and 
use of other Self Improvement Rating Forms, write, 


H..O. Rugg; School of Education, University of Chi-* 


cago; Chicago, Illinois. 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 481 


try for some time to focus attention upon the pupil and 
upon pupil activity and upon the learning process rather 
than the teaching process, is beginning to affect teacher 
rating. 

As stated earlier in the chapter Connor some years ago 
evolved a card in which the items were almost entirely in 
terms of pupil activity. Shortly afterwards. Burton pre- 
sented outlines for evaluating the teacher’s work in the 
various lesson types, giving points both in terms of pupil 
activity and teacher activity. Many other similar outlines 
have appeared in the periodical literature. 

Probably the best illustration of a card organized in this 
way is the one recently evolved in Cleveland under the di- 
rection of Connor and growing out of his early work quoted 
above.?? 


GENERAL PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE RATING OF TEACHING 


1. Teaching, not teachers, is to be rated. 

2. Teaching is to be rated in terms of pupil activity. 

3. Pupil activity is to be judged in terms of what pupils do 
with reference to the desirable things they might do. 

4, Ratings of all lessons and other activities observed will be 
combined for each school and used as a picture of the 
teaching in the school, and not as a rating of any indi- 
vidual teacher. 


Connor was engaged in comparing platoon and tradi- 
tional schools in an effort to see which type of school organ- 
ization showed the greater liberating tendencies as judged 
by pupil reactions. Ratings were made first in October and 
then in January or February. 


Desirable Pupil Activity. Some hundreds of desirable “con- 
_erete acts” of pupils have been collected by teachers of all grades. 


22 William L. Connor, ‘‘ Rating the Teaching by Observing the Pupil 
Activity,’’ Board of Education, Cleveland, Ohio, Division of Ref- 
erence and Research, Bulletin No. 39, Oct. 1, 1924. 


482 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


A teachers’ committee has classified, condensed, and coded these 
“concrete acts.” The “classification” and the “code” as they appear 
in the Journal of Educational Research for June, 1920, are pre- 
sented here. 

Variations in Desirable Pupil Activity. Desirable pupil ac- 
tivity varies, in specific mstances, with the subject and the age 
and grade of the pupils. Jn general, it is the same. 

For example, a pupil in the kindergarten who observes that 
the house he is building of blocks is wobbly, hunts for the cause, 
locates it in a defective block, rejects that block and chooses a 
good one in its stead, is thinking, just as certainly as is the 
pupil in the sixth grade who detects an error in his multiplea- 
tion by making rough approximate calculations giving answers 
a little greater and a little less than the true answer. 

Teachers, principals, and supervisory officers doing the rating, 
are asked to take into consideration the subject taught and the 
age and grade of the pupils observed. 


Connor’s ‘‘code’’ is organized in seven major divisions. 


Under each of these are listed excellent summaries of desir- 
able pupil activities which may be easily observed. The 
seven rubrics are: 


. Thinking 

. Knowledge and Skill 

. Initiative and Socially Significant Situations 

- Morale 

. Emotional Reaction 

. Ethical Self-control in Situations Socially Significant 
. Deportment 


NOOR WD eH 


The whole code is cleverly worked out and easily applied. 
‘Three of the divisions are quoted here by way of illustra- 
tion: 

THe CODE 
I. Thinking 


General definition: Mental activity in the course of which the 
mind locates a difficulty, and in the process of solving the diffi- 
culty arrives at a conclusion which is, to it, a new meaning, be- 
hef, act or way of thinking, or any combination of these. 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 483 


Definition of standard: Thinking by pupils in study or recita- 
tion, and test of the quality and amount agreed upon and set 
down in the course of study or other practice standards. 


Concrete acts: 


ik 


Attains standard score for his grade in 

(a) Stone’s Reasoning Tests (grades 3-8) 

(b) Composition (grades 4-12) 

(c) Trabue Language Seale (grades 2-12) 

(d) Thorndike’s Visual Vocabulary Scales (grades 
3-12) 

(e) Thorndike’s Scale Alpha 2 for Measuring the Un- 
derstanding of Sentences (grades 3-12) 

(f) Starch’s Physics Test 

(g) Henmon’s Latin Tests, ete. | 


. Attains normal school grades in 


(a) School tests over mimimum essentials in arithmetic 

(b) Teacher’s or superintendent’s tests in other sub- 
jects 

(c) School tests in grammar (grades 5-8) 


. Expresses himself clearly in his own words. 
. Exhibits ready ability in reproducing in recitations the 


thinking that has been done before in mastering past 
work. 


. Interprets intelligently any complex directions for work. 
. Classifies and arranges material well. 
. Defines accurately, though sometimes awkwardly. (In 


the kindergarten by pointing and gesturing.) 


. Locates and defines difficulties in material suitable for 


his grade. 


. Proposes solutions to problems cautiously and tries them, 


selecting and rejecting material intelligently. 


. Reaches tentative conclusions and holds them tentatively 


while searching for more evidence. 


. Verifies conclusions carefully before considering them 


final. 


. Considers the bearings of conclusions carefully. 
. Accepts the true bearings of conclusions when they are 


pointed out. 


. Evaluates problems as well as the material used in the 


solution of problems. 


484 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


15. Decides correctly when to depend on his own resources 
and when to seek help. 


III. Initiative in Socially Significant Situations 


General definition: Ability and will to propose or choose, lay 
out, and carry forward work furthering the purpose of the indi- 
vidual and the group. 

Definition of standard: Pupils proposing or choosing, organiz- 
ing and carrying forward work furthering the educative purpose 
of school groups. 

Concrete acts: 


1. Asks questions worth while for the whole group to 
answer. 

2. Proposes problems essential to the progress of the group 
in the subject at hand. 

3. Examines material in advance so as to be of service to 
the teacher and the class in laying out the work for 
the following day or week; i.e., assists actively in 
making the assignment. 

4. Volunteers information, and makes helpful suggestions 
in the course of the recitation. 

5. Seizes upon class problems for further reading or ex- 
periment. 

6. Prepares to contribute intelligently, and offers promptly 
and eagerly to keep the topic, question, or problem 
going during the recitation. 

7. Calls attention to current literature, discoveries, inven- 
tions, or public ues as related to topics or ques- 
tions on hand. 

8. Proposes for group aban the game to be played dur- 
ing the play or language periods. 

9. Proposes changes in games and discusses the changes 
with teacher and pupils. 

10. Is not idle when assigned work is finished, but finds 
useful work to do. 

11. Discovers his weak points and practices to overcome 
them. 

12. Does many useful things without being told. 

13. Asks for needed information or suggestions when his 
own resourees fail. 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 485 


VI. Ethical Self-Control in Situations Socially Significant 


General definition: Inhibition of actions which would inter- 
fere with carrying forward the purposes of social groups. 

Definition of standard: Inhibition in the classroom, and other 
group-units of the school, of conduct interfering with carrying 
forward educative activity. 


Concrete acts: 


. Obeys requests promptly and cheerfully. 
. Obeys the rules of the school. 
. Enters the room and leaves the room quietly and incon- 


spicuously, especially during school hours. 


. Avoids coughing or spitting in public. 
. Does not “delay the game.” . 
. Does not intrude on another person’s privacy or take 


his time unjustly. 


. Tells the truth without evasion. 
. Borrows little and returns borrowed articles promptly 


and in good condition. 


. Does not steal or even borrow without permission. 

. Keeps appointments. 

. Keeps promises made, and avoids rash promises. 

. Does not copy work or seek unfair help from others. 

. Will not permit copying or give unfair help to others. 

. Does not “bluff” in the recitation. 

. Does not bribe, trade, blackmail (threaten to tell) or 


use any other undue influence to have his own way in 
athletics or other school affairs. 


. Controls temper and avoids quarrels. 
. Does not allow himself to be bribed, intimidated, or in- 


fluenced unduly in any way in school affairs. 


. Does not tattle, but will not allow the interests of the 


school to suffer or injustice to be done because of lack 
of information he could supply. 


. Does not tease or bully weaker persons nor allow others 


to do so without protest. 


. Cooperates in protecting school buildings, premises, and 


streets from litter such as fruit skins, paper and 
marking. 


486 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


The same point must be emphasized here that was made 
in connection with the activity analyses presented in Chap- 
ter V. These detailed schemes are not cumbersome and 
impractical. Emphasis is on ‘‘having in mind.’’ With 
the competent and thoroughly trained supervisor the wealth 
of material contained in these detailed cards should become 
second nature and function automatically. 

The directions attached to the Connor code stress the 
necessity of practice preliminary to use, of review of the 
items before entering the classroom, and many other im- 
portant points already stressed in Chapter V and in the 
present chapter. 

The rating ecard which is the final element in this scheme 
is itself very simple (see page 487). 

Summary. Rating cards have been utilized by adminis- 
trators and supervisors most commonly as devices to deter- 
mine promotion and demotion, tenure of office, salary in- 
erease, etc. These are all legitimate, but minor uses of such 
ecards. The principal purpose should be to stimulate the 
teacher to an intelligent self-criticism of her work. The 
fact that there are often abuses in the administrative appli- 
eation of rating is a eriticism of the rater and not of the 
rating scheme. The fact that many teachers are not moti- 
vated or improved is a criticism of the teachers rather than 
of the scales. Neither is sufficient reason for abandoning a 
device which, if properly applied, is of much assistance. 

The specific card to be used should be either codpera- 
tively determined by all concerned, or chosen from those in 
existence upon the basis of examination and discussion. 
The whole theory, uses, dangers, abuses, possibilities, should 
be carefully explained to teachers and questions answered. 

Preferably the teacher should apply the ecard herself sev- 
eral times to her work and then compare later with the 
supervisor’s rating. In any event the card must be open to 
the inspection of the teacher concerned, and she must have 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 487 


Teacher...... SrsUeaGesAde ease sa Aeasas ctuascecsesa OUDIEOL cua acedcss fetsesisconaeGacasemecese eeese @ ceepee cocece 


Grade.. ictecose Wdeses aa SCHOO! tuecsd cacces sgseatebacar duncsenesscucteun sasaac Date. ciacestecnecsee sees Seereoe 


Rongh estimate of GENERAL MERIT: EDC BA (Circle thus: ©) 


Analysis of progress of pupils by observation of pupil activity. 
Progress of 
aT SE 
Deportment 
Ethical Self-Control! 
Emotional Reaction 5 8 10 11 12 


ll 12 13 
12 13 14 
Knowledge & Skill_. 12 13 14 15 


Thinking 789 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 


SUMMARY: Numerical score Equivalent ED CBA (Circle thus: ©) 


Explanation: A,Superior, 91-100; B, Above Average, 71-90; C, Average, 31-70; D, Below Average 11-30 
and E, Inferior 0-10. 


(Over) 





Front or TEACHER’S RATING CARD BASED ON CONNOR’S SCHEME. 


Outstanding Merit: 


Person Rating 





REVERSE OF THE CARD, 


488 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


the right to question and ask for further information on 
any rating given her. 

Based upon his examination of rating scales as operative 
in all parts of the country, Maddock presents the following 
summary : 7° 


From the foregoing discussion of teacher-rating scales the 
writer concludes that present knowledge and experience points 
pretty clearly to the following as desirable features of a rating 
scale for teachers: 

1. It must be recognized by the better class of teachers, them- 
selves, as at least approximately fulfilling its purposes. 

2. It must be treated as nearly objectively as it is possible to 
do so without seriously disturbing the more important subjective 
features. 

3. Standard educational tests to be used to determine the 
progress of children for the purpose of rating teachers should be 
used, if at all, with extreme caution. 

4. Subjective measurements must for the present at least play 
a large part in any teacher-rating scheme. 

5. Any attempt to insist on the “normal distribution” of teach- 
ers in small groups when measured by a rating scale is wrong 
in theory, pernicious in practice, and of itself condemnatory of 
the scale. 

6. The most useful purposes to which a teacher-rating scale 
ean be applied are supervision and improvement of teachers. 

7. The use of a teacher-rating scale for the purpose of re- 
warding superior ability is one of the most effective means of 
improving teachers in service. 

8. Any rating seale should show quite similar results where 
used by two or more individuals when judging the same qualities 
in one individual teacher, providing the judges have had similar 
opportunity to become familiar with the data. 

9. The use of a relatively small number of comprehensive and 
approximately independent items on which the merits of a teacher 
are to be judged. 


23 William E. Maddock, Teacher Rating, Master’s Thesis, Stanford 
University, 1922, p. 48. 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 489 


10. 


11. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


. Brrp, Grace E., “Pupils’ Estimates of Teachers,” Journal of 


Educational Psychology, Vol. 8, Jan., 1917, pp. 35-40. 


. Bossirt, Franklin, “The Supervision of City Schools,” 


Twelfth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of 
Edueation (Public School Publishing Co., 1913). Teacher 
rating, pp. 62-74. 


. Boyce, Arthur C., “Methods of Measuring Teachers’ Eff- 


ciency,” Fourteenth Yearbook of the National Society for 
the Study of Education (Public School Publishing Co., 
1915). Critical discussion of the then best-known methods 
of rating. Excellent bibliography. The Boyce card pre- 
sented has been very influential. 


. BrAprorp, Mary C. C., “Report of the Committee of One . 


Hundred on Classroom Teachers’ Problems,” Proceedings 
of the National Education Association, Vol. 62, 1924. Ex- 
cellent summary on rating, pp. 265-68. 


. BUELLESFIELD, H., “Causes of Failure among Teachers,” 


Educational Administration and Supervision, Vol. 1, Sept. 
1915, pp. 439-52. 


. CARRIGAN, Rose A., “Rating of Teachers on the Basis of 


Supervisory Visitation,” Journal of Educational Method, 
Vol. 2, Sept., 1922, pp. 48-55. 


. Corrman, L. D., “The Control of Educational Progress 


through School Supervision,” Proceedings of the National 
Edueation Association, Vol. 55, 1917, pp. 187-94. State- 
ment in favor of rating. 


. Connor, William L., “A New Method of Rating Teachers,” 


Toute of Fa caseonal Research, Vol. 1, May, 1920, pp. 
338-58. Introduces method of rating teachers through 
pupil activity. 

, “Rating the Teacher by Observing the Pupil Ac- 
tivity,’ Board of Education, Cleveland, Ohio, Division of 
Research and Reference, Bulletin No. 39, Oct. 1, 1924. 
Excellent. 

Cook, William A., “Uniform Standards for Judging Teachers 
in South Dakota,” Educational Administration and Super- 
vision, Vol. 7, Jan., 1921, pp. 1-11. Advocates merit rating 
for salary increases. 

CRABTREE, J. W., “Rating of Teachers,” Proceedings of the 
National Education Association, Vol. 53, 1915, pp. 1165-67, 





490 


12. 


13. 


14, 


15. 


16. 


Li. 


18. 


19, 


20. 


21. 


22. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Good general discussion. Advocates rating of supervisors 
and professors also. 

Davipson, W. M., “How to Measure the Efficiency of Teach- 
ers,” Proceedings of the National Education Association, 
Vol. 51, 1913, pp. 286-90. Good introduction to topie. 

“Duluth System of Rating Teachers,’ Board of Education 
Bulletin, Duluth, Minn., June 9, 1922. Excellent state- 
ment. 

Euuiort, E. C., “A Tentative Scale for the Measurement of 
Teaching Efficiency,” Teachers’ Yearbook of Educational 
Investigations, Department Reference and Research, New 
York City Schools, 1915. A famous early discussion. 
Pages 49-53 contain the 1914 edition of the scale. 

Gray, C. T., “The Training of Judgment in the Use of the 
Ayres Scale for Handwriting,” Journal of Educational 
Psychology, Vol. 6, Feb., 1915, pp. 85-98. Illustrating how 
judgment can be trained. 

Gray, W. S., “Rating Scales, Self-analysis and the Improve- 
ment of Teaching,” School Review, Vol. 29, Jan., 1921, 
pp. 49-57. Good suggestions. . 

Hess, Bertha Y., “Samples of Teacher Self-Rating Cards,” 
City School Leaflet No. 18, Feb., 1925, United States Bu- 
reau of Education. Contains several sample cards and 
brief bibliography. Practically no discussion. 

Hervey, H. P., “The Rating of Teachers,” Proceedings of 
the National Education Association, Vol. 59, 1921, pp. 
825-29. Good discussion. Advocates that supervisors do not 

* rate but that it be done by separate bureau. 

Hess, Adah H., “Teacher Rating as a Means of Improving 
Home Economics Teachers in Service,” Journal of Home 
Economics, Feb., 1922, pp. 85-90. Valuable score card ap- 
pleable to other fields as well as to home economics. 

Hines, Harlan C., “Merit Systems in the Larger Cities,” 
School Board Journal, Vol. 68, June, 1924, pp. 527. A 
comprehensive survey. 

Hupetson, Earl, “The Profession of Principal,’? School Re- 
view, Vol. 30, Jan., 1922, pp. 15-23. Valuable statistical 
tables showing status of teachers. 

JOHNSTON, J. H., “Scientific Supervision of Teaching,” 
School and Society, Vol. 5, Feb. 17, 1917, pp. 181-88. 
Good discussion. Simple ecard advocated and illustrated. 


. JONES, Olive M., “The Relation of the Principal to the 


24. 


25. 


26. 


28. 
29. 
30. 
31. 
32. 


33. 


34. 
35. 


36. 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 491 


Teacher, and Standards for Judging the Effectiveness of 
Teaching,’ School and Society, Vol. 14, Nov. 26, 1921, pp. 
469-77. Describes the rating plan and teacher’s handbook 
for New York. 

“Judging the Competency of Teachers,” editorial, School Re- 
view, Vol. 30, Jan., 1922, pp. 3-6. Discusses suit brought 
against superintendent of Fresno, Cal., by three dismissed 
teachers. Advocates formation of professional association 
among supervisors. 

Kuan, J., “Why Teachers Fail: Fundamental Causes and 
Remedies,” Education, Vol. 33, pp. 193-99. Good discus- 
sion. 

Kine, L. A., “The Present Status of Teacher Rating,’ School 
Board Journal, Vol. 70, Feb., 1925, pp. 44 ff. An excel- 
lent comprehensive survey. Should be consulted. 


. Knapp, T. J., “Merit Promotion of Teachers,” Proceedings 


of the National Education Association, Vol. 59, 1921, pp. 
820-22. Excellent brief statement. 

Kratz, H. E., “Characteristics of the Best Teacher as Recog- 
nized by Children,” Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. 3, pp. 
413-18. 

Lain, Nell E., “Teacher Rating,” Journal of the National 
Education Association, Vol. 14, April, 1925, pp. 118-19. 
Exeellent critical discussion. 

LittLer, Sherman, “Causes of Failure among Elementary 
Teachers,” School and Home Education, Vol. 33, March, 
1914, pp. 255-56. 

Lowry, Ellsworth, “Supervising and Self-Rating Card” 
(privately published, State Normal School, Indiana, Pa.). 
Good detailed card. 

Mappock, William E., “Teacher Rating,” Master’s Thesis, 
Stanford University, 1922. 

McCuvrg, Worth, “The Rating of Elementary School Prin- 
cipals in Service,” Fourth Yearbook, Department of Ele- 
mentary School Principals, National Education <Associa- 
tion, 1925. Excellent. 

MorGan, Catherine, “Manual of Directions for Making Effi- 
ciency Card Ratings,’ Detroit Public Schools, 1923. 

Mosss, Cleda, “Why High School Teachers Fail,” School 
and Home Education, Vol. 33, Jan., 1914, pp. 166-69. 

Nort, H. W., The Supervision of Instruction (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1920), pp. 214-29. 


492 


37. 


38. 
39. 


40. 


4). 


42. 


43. 


44, 


46. 


AT. 


48. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Parrott, Ava L., “Abolishing the Rating of Teachers,” Pro- 
ceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 53, 
1915, pp. 1168-73. Points out many defects in rating. 
Though many of the arguments are quite illogical the ar- 
ticle is of value in giving a point of view. — 

Puitures, E. D., “A Self-Rating Scale for Teachers,’ School 
Board Journal, Vol. 66, Sept., 1923, pp. 45-46. 

RevupicErrR, W. C., “Rating Teachers,’ School and Society, 
Vol. 20, Aug. 30, 1924, pp. 263-68. Valuable discussion. 

, and Srrayver, G. D., “Qualities of Merit in 
Teachers,” Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 1, 
May, 1910, pp. 272-78. 

RippLtE, Anna, “Teacher Rating, Report of Committee of 
One Hundred on Classroom Teachers’ Problems,” Proceed- 
ings of the National Education Association, Vol. 63, 1925, 
pp. 202-15. Excellent bibliography. Good tables showing 
status of rating, reasons for rating, lists of cities having 
rating, merit rating, etc. Discussion good on all points 
except in distinguishing between administrative and super- 
visory rating. 

Ritter, Elmer J., “Rating of Teachers in Indiana,” Ele- 
mentary School Journal, Vol. 18, June, 1918, pp. 740-56. 
Early discussion of a state system. 

Ruaa, H. O., “Self-Improvement of Teachers through Self- 
Rating; A New Scale for Rating Teachers’ Efficiency,” 
Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, May, 1920, pp. 670- 
84. Good discussion of whole matter of rating. Com- 
parison of well-known schemes. 

Scuurte, T. J., Schutte Rating Scale for Teachers (World 
Book Co., 1923). 





. Scorr and CLoTHIER, Personnel Management (A. W. Shaw 


& Co., 1923). Chap. XIII, pp. 197-226 contain full dis. 
cussion with samples of cards used in industry, similar to 
those used in teaching. 

Sars, J. B., Classroom Organization and Control (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1918). Good discussion of teacher’s personality 
in Chap. xvi. 

STEELE, Harold, “Salary Determination in Saginaw Schools,” 
School Board Journal, Vol. 70, Feb., 1925, pp. 40 ff. Brief 
discussion of merit rating. 

“Teachers’ Salaries and Salary Trends in 1923,” Report of 


49 


50 


51. 


52. 


53 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 493 


the Salary Committee, National Education Association, 
July, 1923. Contains list of cities using merit rating. 

. THompson, Anna, “Report of the Committee on Teacher 
Rating,” Proceedings of the National Education Associa- 
tion, Vol. 63, 1925, pp. 375-77. Excellent brief summary. 

. WaAener, C. A., “The Construction of a Teacher-Rating 
Seale,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 21, Jan., 1921, pp. 
361-66. Contains a criticism of the Rugg card. 

, “A Plan of Procedure for the Management of a 

Teacher-rating Scale and Related Salary Schedule,” School 

Board Journal, Vol. 67, July, 1923, pp. 38 ff. Good. 

, “What Should Be the Teacher’s Part in a Scheme of 
Teacher Rating?” School Board Journal, Vol. 68, March, 
1924, pp. 57 ff. Plea for teacher participation. 

. Wuitney, E. R., “Merit Ratings of Teachers,” Proceedings 
of the National Education Association, Vol. 62, 1924, p. 
948. Brief note setting forth characteristics and workings 
of the Schenectady plan. 








CHAPTER XIII 
EVALUATING THE EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 


As stated in the first chapter, this volume proceeds upon 
the assumption that supervision is a necessary, vital, and 
integral part of the educational program. There are cer- 
tain powerful arguments in support of such an assumption, 
namely, the obvious fact that even our best teachers are 
seriously undertrained, and the fact that school work needs 
to be unified in a coherent and continuous way. Obvious 
as the need and justification for supervision in general is, 
it is necessary none the less that specific programs of super- 
vision justify themselves. Just as teaching is evaluated in 
terms of certain standards, so also must supervision be 
evaluated. Just as teachers are rated upon the perform- 
ance of certain definite tasks, so also must supervisors be 
rated. 

Ideally, justifications of supervision should rest upon 
precise objective evidence derived from scientific study. 
There are but one or two such studies in existence. These 
studies will be presented in a later chapter, together with a 
further discussion of the scientific study of supervision. 

In the absence of any great body of scientifically deter- 
mined evidence concerning supervision, we must proceed to 
evaluate programs and procedures by standards which are 
as objective and refined as we can make them. Such em- 
pirical standards are, of course, open to many criticisms but 
they are practical and do afford a good basis for organizing 
expert opinion. 

494 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 490 


The demand that supervision submit to evaluation and 
present evidence proving its worth comes from two sources. 
First, there are the constant and often vigorous criticisms 
of, and arguments against, supervision emanating from the 
teaching body. Secondly, superintendents and_ school 
boards, acting upon accepted principles of good business 
administration, ask directly that supervision present evi- 
dence showing that adequate returns are being made for the 
money expended. 

Criticisms of supervision from teachers and others. 
Supervision has always had to meet the vigorous opposition 
of a large portion of the teaching body. Criticisms of 
supervision have varied from carefully worded, sincere dis- 
cussions of poor supervision, to wild and illogical denuncia- 
tions. It is to be regretted that the majority of teacher 
criticisms reflect temperamental reactions, narrow personal 
view, or are otherwise defective. However, there do exist 
several careful studies of what teachers really think of su- 
pervision, in which are reflected the sober judgments of 
many teachers. Valuable guidance can be obtained from 
these saner presentations. 

The unreflective temperamental opinions expressed by 
teachers really do more harm than is suspected. The gen- 
eral attitude of antagonistic criticism is kept alive. Young 
teachers are prejudiced. The opinions and attitudes of 
those who unthinkingly make the statements are unfavor- 
ably affected. Much good will result when the professional 
spirit of teachers reaches a level which will prevent un- 
thinking ‘‘gossipy’’ criticisms. 

A graduate student at the University of Cincinnati asked 
thirty teachers selected at random to express their honest 
opinions of supervision in a sentence or two without further 
thought on the matter. The answers in the order given 
were: + 


1 Unpublished materials, University of Cincinnati. 


496 


Hm CODE 


10. 


ine, 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


. We don’t like supervision. 

. It makes us nervous and fidgety. 

. Supervision is frightful. 

. It is O.K. if the supervisors are better trained than the 


teachers. The supervisors from the University are all 
right. 


. We have little or no supervision. Principals use too much 


time in clerical work. They need work in supervision 
before they are qualified to supervise. 


. I think supervision is a good thing. 
. Supervisors think they are above you, and they try to be 


fantastic. 


. In general, supervision has not been of help to me. Super- 


vision in the past has fallen down. 


. Supervision is the helpful aid for the finished pur- 


pose. 

Supervision doesn’t help us any. We always do our duty 
and do our best, anyway. We wouldn’t teach any bet- 
ter if the whole city should come in and supervise. 
Money spent on supervision is wasted. 

Supervisors are of no account. They can’t teach, so they 
supervise. 


. Supervision is helpful, though there is timidity on the part 


of the teacher. 


. If you want my honest opinion on supervision, it’s hell. 


It is “torturous.” Supervision, though, has been of some 
help. It is a necessary evil. 


. Though supervisors are bad, they are of some help. 
. There are good and bad supervisors. Sometimes they 


give you a chill. 


. Supervisors are all right if they are well trained and have 


had lots of experience. They act as a stimulant. 


. Supervisors are helpful if they are qualified. They have 


been helpful to me. 


. I have never had a supervisor that was of any help to me. 
. | have always found supervision helpful. 
. Supervisors were of little help. Only a few mild points 


were given. Expert supervision would have been of 
great help. Teachers were left to their own initiative. 


. They criticize, but give you no help. After five years of 


experience, and a teacher is successful, the supervisor | 
is not needed. : 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 497 


22. 


23. 


24. 
25. 


26. 
7 


28. 


29. 


30. 


They are helpful in pointing out details that escape the 
teacher. They should not leave the teacher without say- 
ing anything. Query: Do you like to see the supervisor 
visit you? Answer: They don’t give you a thrill. Some 
are picky. What do you mean by “picky”? I mean, 
“pickaying.” 

They are helpful. All that visited us were kind. Visitors 
of any kind make one uneasy. 

As supervision is conducted to-day, I am opposed to it. 

I don’t care whether the supervisors come to visit me or 
not. It doesn’t bother me. One supervisor is a help to 
me. Some are narrow-minded. 

Teachers hate them. I don’t mind them, though I don’t 
welcome them. My supervisor has been all right. 

The supervision we have is better than nothing, but it could 
be a whole lot better. 

I’m elated over my supervisors. They are so kind and 
nice. Though it still makes me nervous when the super- 
visor appears. 

It is embarrassing to teach when the supervisor is sitting 
before you scratching on a pad. They leave you without 
saying anything; even adverse comment would be bet- 
ter than this. If a teacher does good work it should be 
recognized. But supervisors think that this would make 
the teacher conceited. 

Supervision has been such a drain on my energy and has 
destroyed my poise and effort, so that it has not been 
worth while. 


The list is quite typical. Statements vary from the 
highly temperamental to those indicating some basis in 
analysis and thought. On the whole, however, neither the 
positive or negative statements indicate any careful study. 
It may be objected that these are spur-of-the-moment state- 
ments. True, but such statements could indicate a basis in 
past thought just as well as the lack of such a basis. 

A much more valuable picture of teacher opinion? is found 





2 Sallie Hill, “Defects of Supervision and Constructive Suggestions 
Thereon,” Proceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 
57, 1919, pp. 506-09. 


498 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


in an article by Miss Sallie Hill. She deals with the 
‘‘specialist supervisor’? more particularly, but her state- 
ments are pertinent to all supervisors. She states that: 


1. Supervision is not democratic. 

2. Supervisors lack training, experience, and personality. 

3. The specialist supervisor requires too much of the teacher. 
4. Rating power should not be included in supervision. 


In a similar discussion Coffman states that: 3 


1. Supervision does not fulfill its promises, it is not specific 
and definite. 

2. Supervision is often of the inspectorial type. 

3. The selection of supervisors has been poor. 

4. There has been a lack of understanding of the technical 
nature of the supervisory process. 


Other similar studies can be found by consulting the 
bibliography. The bearing of these criticisms upon the 
underlying principles of supervision and upon the nature 
of supervisory training has already been discussed else- 
where. None of the statements are logical or conclusive 
arguments for the abolition of supervision, although some 
of them are presented as such. They are really demands 
for better supervision. They are demands that supervision 
justify itself, that it be scrutinized and evaluated. 

As a matter of fact there are available a number of 
studies reflecting teacher opinion which provide for care- 
fully thought-out conclusions on the part of the teachers. 
In these studies it is evident that violent opposition to 
supervision is steadily decreasing. Nutt shows with re- 
markably conclusive evidence that teacher opinion is in 
truth overwhelmingly in favor of general supervision, 


3L. D. Coffman, ‘‘Control of. Progress Through Supervision,’’ 
Proceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 55, 1913, 
pp. 187-94. 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 499 


though not so strongly in favor of special supervision.* In 
his study, one of the most valuable‘in print, questionnaires 
were given out to the teachers in three city systems. Full 
explanations were made. Conditions were arranged so that 
teachers could reply freely without being identified. Of the 
231 teachers replying, 222 had taught under supervision 
two or more years, and 176, five years or more. The sober 
judgments of a large body of teachers with experience under 
supervision is worthy of the most serious consideration. 

Following is a tabulation of ‘‘helpful things done by 
supervisors’’ as listed by these teachers: 


Frequency 
1. Encouragement, sympathy, and favorable comments. 112 
2. Helpful, valuable suggestions .............es+eu> 91 
3. Friendly, helpful, constructive criticisms .......... 71 
PASCO TECLALION eet, Petite sre oa ts tee ene AT 
pecemonstrationienching tj. cies. Lon 0, VR R Be 30 
fe Ope mboeCOUTSS OL StUCY ve °. sido a\s sons ania d bak «hao wes 32 
EMEC IAET Eee ne Eo aa ge op Ao a: o1c:y aie capacannss tea eraha oh eo% 30 
MAE LEO ITOUOCL LEACHING von os 5 oo sce se iale the qaieia vie 23 
SPREE OMELET ISLS are se e's psc go 0 + + 0 :2,0 4,5 )01¢ 6 sie e oe oo 
PU RTP MIIEL NOUS (SCNCTAL) “oie csie's occ clece wits istetet tes 20 
11. Outlines of work, drills and tests ..............--. 20 
12. Helpful advice ........... FS tahidietee eae si Seat Lee Le 
13. Grade meetings to discuss problems (general) ...... 16 
14. Allowing teacher to use initiative ................ 13 
15. General teachers’ meetings to discuss methods ...... 12 
16. General helpfulness ..... ith PAPI wr ahah ethane 11 
17. Providing books and magazines for professional 
7 Pema tmmveririe cnt sbet liste Sa/sics aS e OB Tee cae. 11 
18. Personal conferences 5 
19. Giving comparison of work with work in the same 
Pe eee ea TE gi whe. Sida pb 6k dca ieee ven vas oie as as 5 
20. Giving broader view of education ................ 5 


4H. W. Nutt, ‘‘The Attitude of Teachers Toward Supervision,’’ 
Educational Research Bulletin, Ohio State University, Vol. 3, Feb. 6, 
1924, pp. 59-64. 


500 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Frequency 

213; Help! with individual pupilsis aie cas ces ewe ae 4 
22. ‘Planning /OLsworke fires isin at tess 6 one eerie ae es 
Zo.-Optimistice attitudes srt ai siwees cs ie tute eee 2 
24. Manifestation of interest in work of children ...... ot 
25. Discussion of favorable and unfavorable criticisms.. 2 
26. Spirit of sincerity and fairness ............-200e. 2 
27. Asking where difficulty lay in giving work and get- 

Tings Tesi) tig ochre se ieee is ss Sons etkeds ieee aoa cee 2 
29. Correlation OL; SUDJECLS es o2 ><, s.s-olaretalviein icicle ete 1 
29. No interference with actual classroom work ....... i 
30; -- Absence? Most NEL Wes waits se a's 5 crete > shee e eeletaeteeane 1 
51. *Moral’ supporters tices wee ears epiesere atyirk sme a). eee 1 
32. Information as to difficulties to expect ........... i! 
Bsuharinge responsibility 1... sa. «1s. «se cere saan 1 


The first seventeen items seem to be the most important 
and can be further reclassified under three heads: (a) im- 
mediate attack upon teaching problems (items 2, 3, 5, 8) 
mentioned in the aggregate 220 times; (b) general spirit 
and attitude of supervisor (items 1, 4, 7, 14, 16) mentioned 
213 times; (c) indirect attack upon teaching problems 
(items 6, 9, 10, 11, 18, 15, 17) mentioned 134 times. 

The score for (0) is significant in indicating how impor- 
tant it is that supervisors manifest sympathy and encour- 
agement in order that their technical suggestions be well 
received. The score for (c) indicates that many general 
helps are actually carrying over into the practice of 
teachers. 

The total score for most helpful things is 607 points. 
Only fourteen teachers stated that they had received no 
help. Some of these were excellent experienced teachers 
and doubtless the supervisors were putting their time and 
energy elsewhere. Subtracting, however, this number from 
the score, the net total of helpful points is 593. 

These same teachers then listed the ‘‘things done by 
supervisors which are not helpful.’’ 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 501 


TYPES OF CRITICISM 


Frequency 
1. Sarcastic remarks to both teacher and pupils ...... Wi 
2. Always finding fault with the teaching or the recita- 
PUUACLLLNGL DUD cme ha anne. tis cr wlacneen. 6 ol aie ay 
eee CGI: OL UNUM POA tat Wines vse ¢eieieieis'« seie eo eteist: i 
4. Destructive criticisms that are depressing ......... a 
5. Discouraging discussion of methods .............. 1 


Total Oe 5 


GENERAL TECHNIQUE 


6. Making suggestions about the teaching in the midst 


OLRENOPECUILAIONS ei, Fon cis sc 'e'ca ts Scie Oe pel eleleee 1 
7. Interrupting the class for points not relevant to the 

SEB GHGs BD LENS wise 27) erty Abie iain (or ep 51 oho ete entiate eee 1 
8. Visiting and taking notes but not making comments 

CIRCA SW OLICS MaRS» ils is oo! ol v's aha s Made pei Dake Pate 5 
9. Abrupt, noisy entrance into classroom ............ 2 


10. Making unpremeditated suggestions at the last mo- 
ment when plans have been made and approved .. 2 
11. Attempting to conduct class when not well informed 1 
12. Nervous principal gets us unnecessarily disturbed .. 1 
13. General supervisor just sitting there makes the 
DEER IROL VOUS Se ielgtcs sists lacé)s. 0 o's n'a bo ol btarels atalelaes Ge 1 
14. Knowing general supervisor may come any minute... 1 


The total score for these items is 20 points. Subtracting 
this from the net total of helpful points, 593, there still re- 
mains a total of 573 points favorable to supervision. 

The above discussion relates to ‘‘general supervision.’’ 
A most interesting contrast is found when the answers re- 
garding ‘‘special supervision’’ are examined. The tables 
are similar to those above and need not be reproduced here. 
The total score for helpful things in special supervision was 
872 as compared to 607 for general. The total score for 


502 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


things not helpful was 275. Compared to the total of things 
helpful, 372, and particularly when compared to the score 
for things not helpful in general supervision, 20, it is easily 
seen that special supervision does not at all enjoy the con- 
fidence of the teachers as does general supervision. 

Wagner has supplied us with a brief and interesting 
summary of the common teacher complaints about super- 
vision, together with a list of points in answer.° 


The opposition to supervision needs to be classed as opinions 
urged against supervision; they are not arguments. 


1. Supervision destroys the individuality of the teacher. This 
is true of poor supervision; the poor teacher has no indi- 
viduality to suppress. Good supervision develops teachers 
by correcting the improvable work and by offering extra 
inducements and recognition to the original teacher. 

2. Supervision expects too much of teachers. A complaint of 
the inert and mechanical teacher. Good supervision in- 
spires the best teacher most, of course, because there is 
most to inspire. 

3. Supervision has no professional standards. This fact is 
being changed and rendered less true every day and year. 
Supervision is passing from the individual to the pro- 
fessional basis. 

4. The supervisor tries to catch teachers unprepared. Spying 
is not supervision, but a base counterfeit. 

5. Teachers object to supervisors’ little supervisory slips; they, 
too, want to write slips on the supervisors. Merely a 
quibble, but teachers should be recognized and their opin- 
ions of their work taken into consideration. 


Some other opposing claims are met in the opinions in favor 
of supervision: 


1. Supervision helps the new teacher most quickly into unity 
and harmony with the system. 


5C, A. Wagner, ‘‘The Arguments For and Against Supervision,’’ 
Proceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 60, 1922, 
pp. 1438-39, 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 503 


. Supervision helps the poorly trained teacher to become a 


better teacher. 


. Supervision induces meditation, contemplation, self-criti- 


cism by teachers. 


. New ideas, plans, procedures are brought into the system 


by supervision and adapted to the system. 
The best work of the system is used as type and model for 
other teachers of the system. 


. If rating and pay are to be based on effectiveness in work, 


supervision is needed. 


. The work of a system is unified by supervision; opportuni- 


ties of the children are made as nearly equal as possible 
in all points of the system. 


. Supervision is called for by the tendency to specialization 


in every human activity. The accumulated knowledge and 
the acquired skill of professionals can thus become an 
inexhaustible resource for system and profession. 


Administrative demands that supervision justify itself. 
At the close of the year 1922-23 Superintendent Weet of 
Rochester, New York, sent a letter to Miss Mabel E. Simp- 


son, 


Director of Elementary Supervision, which contained 


the following questions: °® 


1 


2 


4. 


On 


. Exactly what does your department try to do that must be 


regarded as essential in public-school organization? 

What, briefly, are the typical lines of work along the line 
of educational administration or supervision that your de- 
partment carries on? 

Have you any facts or figures to show how many teachers 
were directly affected and perhaps also how many pupils 
were indirectly affected by the work of your department? 

What about the understanding as shown by the attendance 
facts in the supervisory methods classes for teachers new 
to the system, that may have been carried on in your de- 
partment? 

Is it possible for you to organize any supervisory data 
that would convince the laymen that in this matter of 
supervision we are getting what we are going after? 


6“*Supervisory Activity in Rochester,’’ Journal of Educational 
Method, Vol. 3, Feb., 1924, p. 264. 


504 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


These questions, particularly the last one, are direct and 
straightforward, but entirely legitimate, demands that su- 
pervision produce evidence of its worth. A part of Miss 
Simpson’s reply is as follows: 


Help is given to principals and teachers in problems of organi- 
zation, problems of equipment, problems of materials pertaining 
to methods of teaching, and the proper use of tests and measure- 
ments. Visits to teachers and demonstration lessons are ar- 
ranged on a definite schedule and in addition twenty-four sec- 
tional meetings are held by the department at the city normal 
school; also an institute was conducted in which thirty-five dem- 
onstration lessons were given by teachers from different schools 
in the system. Three forms of demonstration teaching are em- 
ployed in the schools of Rochester, namely, those in the institute, 
those in sectional meetings, and those in individual classrooms. 
Seven demonstration teachers are employed regularly in this 
department, and they give all their time to this work. An 
especially interesting feature of the supervisory plan is the 
schedule of visits to be made by supervisor and administrative 
teachers. This is so arranged that complete cooperation between 
the principal and teachers on the one hand and the supervisory 
force on the other is made possible. 


Who then shall rate the supervisor? This question is 
often asked by individuals who think to use it to point out 
the absurdity of attempting to rate supervisors, principals, 
or administrators. It is by no means a question beside the 
point, but an entirely serious inquiry capable of being an- 
swered. There is no reason why supervision and the super- 
visors should not be rated by those under supervision, by 
those over it and responsible for it, and finally by those 
engaged in it. 

Teachers must not only contribute to supervision, but 
must also pass judgment upon the worth of supervision. 
As has been pointed out several times previously in this 
book, supervision is a cooperative procedure. The teacher’s 
contribution is valuable and should be sought. The teacher 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 505 


must be given opportunity to express her opinion concern- 
ing supervision when that opinion can be supported with 
definite evidence. In standing for the principle that teach- 
ers must not only contribute to supervision but judge of its 
worth, the writer is fully aware of the difficulties in the way 
of practical operation cf such a plan. Large numbers of 
graduate students studying supervision, many of them ex- 
perienced teachers and supervisors, express the opinion that 
it is not safe to evaluate or attempt to judge the work of 
those over you. This feeling is not without basis when we 
consider the arbitrary and autocratic procedures in vogue 
in some city and state systems. Teachers are quite fre- 
quently bulldozed and brow-beaten and ordered to cease 
discussing educational policies and to cease voicing opinions 
of any kind at school meetings. Teachers are dismissed 
very often purely because of the whim of some superior 
officer. In many public schools, even in normal schools 
and colleges, teacher tenure depends so largely on whim, 
caprice, or prejudice, that any attempt at originality or 
initiative, let alone an attempt at positive participation, 
would result in immediate dismissal. Nevertheless it must 
be reiterated that supervision is a codperative procedure in 
the fullest meaning of that term. The teachers’ contribu- 
tion is vital and essential and must be dealt with. Not 
only must teachers contribute to the general policy 
and procedure as it affects them from day to day, 
but they will probably be called upon soon to make spe- 
cific statements and judgments of supervision and super- 
visors. | 

In many situations, of course, there is a splendid spirit 
existing between administrators and the teaching body. 
There is more and more opportunity for the well-trained 
competent teachers to express their real opinions. Their 
help is solicited by many of the more progressive superin- 
tendents. In many situations where formal machinery for 


506 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


teacher participation has not yet been established, school 
administrators are receptive and sensitive to the opinions 
of the earnest, conscientious leaders among the teaching 
oroup. 

What are the factors upon which teachers may be ex- 
pected to pass judgment? Judgments passed by teachers 
upon supervisors vary widely and include practically all 
phases of the supervisor’s work. Both complaint and praise 
are heard in regard to personal contacts, mannerisms, 
habits, hobbies, dress, training, professional ability, religion, 
ete., ete. The evidence upon which the judgments are based 
will vary from real tangible evidence of efficiency or ineffi- 
ciency to pure prejudice on the part of the teacher. Unfair, 
capricious criticisms are by no means confined to super- 
visory sources. There must be some more definite under- 
standing of the factors upon which teachers should pass 
judgment and in regard to the methods of arriving at the 
judgments. 

Teachers’ estimates of qualifications. Guidance will be 
obtained by referring to the discussion of the supervisor’s 
personality in Chapter XIV, particularly Miss Bird’s study 
in which are listed the qualifications for good supervisors as 
seen by teachers. The points listed in the order of their 
votes were: * 


Kindness or sympathy, systematic individual supervision, 
cooperation, executive ability, professional knowledge, progres- 
siveness, leadership in community, reliable judgment, broad schol- 
arship, flexibility of requirements, sincerity, good breeding, at- 
tractive personality, ability to discipline, good health, ability to 
make a speech, fairness, lofty ideals, the ability to smile, prompt- 
ness, reliability, poise, enthusiasm, moral and physical cleanli- 
ness, foresight, democratic spirit, resourcefulness, courage, opti- 
mism, sense of humor. 


7G. E. Bird, ‘‘Teachers’ Estimates of Supervisors,’’? School and — 


Society, Vol. 5, p. 720. 


ae 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 507 


Obviously the teachers can pass judgment better on those 
aspects of supervision with which they come in direct con- 
tact. These would include the personality of the supervisor, 
his ability to handle people in conference, and his efficiency 
in direct classroom supervision. On other factors in super- 
vision there are other opinions obtainable which would be 
more valuable than those of the teacher. 

Definite score cards. One or two attempts have been 
made to organize some scheme whereby teachers might ex- 
press their opinions regarding the efficiency or lack of it in 
their supervisors, but little information can be secured con- 
cerning them. \The Spokane, Washington, Grade Teachers 
Association devoted the April, 1921, issue of their bulletin 
to the discussion of supervision and expressed their confi- 
dence and belief in some system of supervisory rating. In 
their estimation a brief card was the most practicable. The 
following suggestions were made: ® 


The following points to be applied to the building principal: 


. Executive ability 

. Firmness in discipline 

. Progressiveness 

. Cultivation of initiative among teachers 


. Sympathy 
. Constructive criticism 


Doe wD 


And on the supervisors some such report as the following 
might be made: 


1. Approachability 

2. Open-mindedness 

3. Firmness 

4. Constructive criticism 
5. Classroom instruction 


8‘‘May Jones,’’ Bulletin of the Spokane Grade Teachers Asso- 
ciation, April, 1921, p. 10. 


508 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


While this list is purposely brief, it is suggestive. The 
points, however, must of necessity be more clearly defined 
and limited. 

Graduate students at Washington State College some 
years ago evolved a list of questions to be used in analyzing 
the supervisors’ activity in actual classroom supervision. 
No attempt was made to cover all fields of work. This list 
focuses attention directly upon what the supervisor does 
and at the same time indicates to the teacher that specific 
evidence must be forthcoming with which to support the 
judgment made. It is not intended that all the questions 
shall be specifically answered except in crucial cases or 
emergencies. Teachers may, if they wish, rate the super- 
visors on the main headings only, using the questions to 
organize their thinking, to recall specific occasions, ete. 
Any of several adaptations of such a card would be satis- 
factory. The statements may be made direct instead of 
interrogative. They may be reduced in number and 
weighted if desirable, though little is gained by attempting 
to weight points because of the impossibility of agreement 
upon the scoring of such ecards. 


OUTLINE FOR THE DISCUSSION OF SUPERVISORY EFFICIENCY IN 
CLASSROOM SUPERVISION 


A scheme that may be used by teachers to express their judg- 
ment of the supervisor, or by the supervisor in self-analysis.® 


1. Personal Equipment: 
(a) Is he of pleasing manner and address? Neat and clean 
in dress and appearance? 
(b) Does his health interfere in any way with his efficiency? 
(c) Is he optimistic and cheerful in the face of obstacles 
and difficulties? 
(qd) Is he a good thinker? Is his thinking constructive 


9W. H. Burton, Supervision and the Improvement of Teaching 
(D. Appleton & Co., 1922), pp. 429-33. 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 509 


and alive, or does his mind run in a rut? Has he 
initiative? Is he adaptable and resourceful? Is he 
a reliable thinker, or scatterbrained? Can he take 
a situation or difficulty and reason through to a 
logical, helpful remedy? Is he broad- and open- 
minded? 

(e) Is he good natured? Can he see a joke even when it is on 
himself? Is he irritable or able to maintain an even 
disposition? Does he carry an atmosphere of good 
fellowship or does he depress? 

(f) Has he a sense of justice? 

(g) Are his integrity and moral fiber unquestionable? Is 
he frank or evasive? 

(h) Is he prompt? 

(7) Does he inspire you toward larger fields? Has he a 
personality that encourages you to do your best? 

(7) Has he the necessary training and experience to com- 
mand respect? 


2. Ability of the Supervisor to Assist You with the Routine De- 
tails of School Management, Daily Program, Discipline, ete. 
(a) Cite specific instances of good devices given you. Give 
circumstances of the problem, supervisor’s sugges- 
tions, results of applying same. 

(6) Do the same in ease of supervisor’s inability to help you. 

(c) In case of inability, did the supervisor frankly state 
that he could not help you or did he side-step the 
issue ? 

(qd) Was the supervisor available before the opening of 
school so that you could secure information about 
supplies, rules, records, etc.? 


3. Ability to Assist You with Problems of Teaching Method: 

(a) Relate in some detail the assistance given you in regard 
to problems arising during the progress of such les- 
sons as involved reflective thought or imitation. 

(b) Do the same if assistance was secured in regard to set- 
ting up problematic aims, sources of data, organiza- 
tion of material into good assignments. 

(c) Has the supervisor been of assistance in bringing about 
favorable physical conditions for your study periods? 
In securing such material as you need for this work? 

(d) Is he willing to sit down and analyze study difficulties 


510 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


as reported by you or that he observes while visit- 
ing? 

(e) Is he of service in suggesting new drill games and de- 
vices? In suggesting changes and variations of those 
you are using? 

(f) Is he skillful in assisting you to secure live topics for 
expression lessons? In preparing the audience sit- 
uation and in handling developmental presentations? 

(g) What suggestions has he made to you in regard to en- 
joyment lessons, type studies, project organizations, 
technique of questioning, etc.? 

(h) Relate in some detail any cases with which the super- 
visor could not help you, giving the situation, your 
questions, and his answers. 

(2) If demonstration lessons were of value, state in what 
ways. If you feel that they were not materially 
better than your own procedure, show specifically 
why you think so. 

(j) Will the supervisor give demonstrations when asked to? 


4, Ability to Diagnose Individual Cases, Hither by Observation 


and Knowledge or by Tests and Measurements: 


(a) Does the supervisor manifest real interest in your diffi- 
culties with odd cases and individual differences? 
Put time and real effort into analyzing them with 
you? 

(6) Will he perform tests and interpret them for you? 
Does he suggest remedial methods, either along lines 
of teaching method, special subject-matter, special 
promotion or demotion, lines of interest, devices for 
discipline, ete.? 

(c) Does he use the Binet-Simon scale and at least one 
standard group test for intelligence? 

(d) Is he familiar with a reasonable number of the best 
known educational tests and measuring scales? 

(e) Will he assist you in learning to apply these scales and 
tests yourself? 

(f) Does he try to provide for special promotion or de- 
motion, or otherwise care for special cases? Or does 
he follow the line of least resistance and allow such 
eases to hang fire until the end of the semester or 
term? 


a 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 511 


5. Ability to Assist You with the Selection of Subject-Matter and 
the Organization of Lesson Plans: 

(a) Give definite statements in regard to stories, poems, 
pictures, supplementary books, additional material, 
supplied by the supervisor in answer to your re- 
quests. 

(b) List cases in which he was unable to help you, stating 
your requests and his reasons for inability to help. 

{c) Has he been of assistance in organizing material into 
teachable lesson plans? Into projects? 

(ad) Will he pass judgment for you upon material found by 
you and submitted for approval? Does he give good 
clear-cut reasons in terms of fundamental principles 
when he approves or rejects? 

(e) Is he open-minded on the matter of subject-matter de- 
partures or does he stick rather closely to what has 
been done in the past? Cite specific cases and re- 
marks when approving or condemning a supervisor 
on this question. 

(f) Does he invite teachers to contribute and assist in the 
organization of the course of study? 


6. Ability to Visit and Confer with Teacher: 

(a) Does the supervisor enter your room and leave it with 
a minimum of disturbance? Avoid unnecessary in- 
terruptions while in the room? 

(b) If not, state specifically his faults in this matter. 

(c) Does he avoid commenting in a disturbing way on your 
procedure during the course of a lesson? Avoid tak- 
ing the class from your hands unless asked to do so? 

(d) Does he ask permission to question the class or teach 
a part of the lesson? | 

(e) Is his attitude and expression while in the room com- 
mendatory, or at least noncommittal? Does he avoid 

_ expressing disapproval so plainly that the pupils see 
it? 

(f) Does he visit frequently enough? Too often? Remain 
long enough to get a fair idea? 

(g) Does he ask for and provide for conferences on his 
observations at such times as are suitable for you 
and do not unduly disturb the regular work? 

{h) Does he have regular office hours during which he can 


512 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


be approached and consulted? Is he willing to work 
overtime when a teacher is, in order to accomplish a 
piece of work? 

(7) In these conferences does he commend the good work 
he has seen? When he indicates flaws and weak- 
nesses in your work does he make definite, construc- 
tive suggestions? 

(j) Do you feel free to ask further questions about his 
suggestions? To ask for more information? To 
defend yourself? Will he enter into discussion of 
your views cheerfully and with an open mind? 

(k) Does he listen carefully to your questions or dismiss 
your problems with cursory or facetious remarks? 

(1) In cases where you feel that he has been unfair or 
has not given due weight to your opinions, cite ex- 
actly what his stand was and his answers to your 
point of view. 

(m) Does he use notes or an outline in going over your work 
or talk at random on scattered points? Confine his 
efforts to a few vital points of a time? 

(n) Give definite statements in regard to any suggestions 
or remarks which you feel to have been tactless. Do 
the same in cases of marked tact or consideration. 


7. Ability to Administer Teachers’ Meetings: 


(a) Are these meetings held at the most favorable time for 
all concerned? If not, suggest a more favorable 
time. 

(b) Do they begin on time, move forward without weari- 
some digression and discussion, end promptly? 

(c) Are the topics of interest and value to the group called 
together? Does he avoid calling meetings for mere 
routine matter, handling out materials, outlines, ete.? 

(dq) Were you prepared in advance by mimeographed bulle- 
tins or outlines? Was there definite opportunity 
provided to express your opinions after the lecture 
or demonstration? 


8. Ability to Direct Teachers in Improvement Work: 


(a) Is he of definite assistance in suggesting reading, ex- 
tension and summer-school courses? 


(b) Does. he arrange for visiting days and opportunities to 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 513 


observe special work? Does he bring to his teachers 
the best from other schools and systems? 

(c) Does he circulate mimeographed outlines or bulletins 
from time to time? 

(d) Does he keep school exhibits of pupils’ work, of supple- 
mentary materials and apparatus? 

(e) Will he arrange classes and reading circles within the 
system when asked to by teachers? 

(f) Does he himself improve in service or does he act like 
a cog in a system? Does he do active constructive 
work or merely hold his position? 


9. Ability of Supervisor to Rate Teachers Fairly and Efficiently: 

(a) Will he give you definite, concrete statements in regard 
to where you stand as a teacher? 

(b) Does he explain the rating card and standard of judg- 
ment to his teachers or work it out with them in 
advance? 

(c) Does he encourage self-rating and self-analysis by 
teachers ? 

(d) Will he review and discuss with you such ratings as 
he gives you? Compare them with your own self- 
rating? ! 

(e) Do you feel that he is fair and impartial? Avoids 
personal, racial, or religious prejudice? Avoids ca- 
tering to social or political influence? Frankly points 
out good and bad to all teachers alike? 

(f) Is the rating system used by him as a device in im- 
proving his teachers or as a mere office device for 
purposes of record? 


The foregoing outline is not intended to be used as a 
score card, unless it is materially shortened, but rather as 
a basis for discussion or self-analysis, as stated above. 

Another illustration of score cards for supervisory rating 
are those worked out by graduate students at the University 
of Minnesota under the direction of Dr. FE. L. Whitney. 
One of the score cards is given here: ?° 


10 Ibid., pp. 437-38. 


o14 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


ScorE CarD FOR GENERAL SUPERVISORY SUCCESS 


I. Personal Equipment (Value ...... ) 


Consider such matter as qualities of 
leadership, general intelligence, 
health, tact in social contacts, per- 
sonal appearance, ethical character, 
common-sense judgment, self-control 
under stress, broadmindedness, and 
initiative. 


II. Social Equipment (Value ...... ) 


Consider evidénces of leadership in 
school and community, of interest in 
community problems, of interest in 
and understanding of both children 
and teachers, of good conversational 
ability, of loyalty to school and com- 
munity of interest and skill in extra- 
curricular activities, of specific train- 
ing for social service, of ability to 
codperate with associates and with 
patrons, and of the use of diplomacy 
in social contacts. 


III. Professional Equipment (Value...... ) 


Consider academic and professional 
training, valuable experience of all 
types, executive ability, knowledge 
of men, skill in demonstration teach- 
ing, knowledge of the principles of 
teaching, skill in curriculum making, 
evidences of professional interest and 
growth, and adequate acquaintance 
with child nature. 


VP} P |M|G|VG 





IV. Technique of Supervision (Value ...... ) 


Consider as technique constructive 
criticism of teaching, diagnosis of 
teaching difficulties, professional 
growth of teachers furthered, demon- 
stration teaching, syllabi made, co- 
operation with and among teachers, 
placement of teachers, recognition of 
individual abilities and needs of 
teachers, organization of pupil 
groups, teaching judged objectively, 
capitalization for all of the best prac- 
tice of the entire corps, and measure- 
ment of the results of teaching. 


V. Results of Supervision (Value ...... ) 


Consider measurements of the prog- 
ress of pupils and of the growth of 
teachers, and the attitude of teachers 
and pupils, community codperation, 
value of syllabi made, of published 
contribution to education, the num- 
ber of hours used in classroom visita- 
tion, improvement in community 
life, good citizenship furthered, and 
the physical condition of the school 
plant. 


Fina Ratinea (graphic) 
RATING IN TERMS OF AMOUNT 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 515 


ScorE Carp FoR GENERAL Supervisory Success—Continued 


VP} P|M|G|VG 





516 


BOARD OF EDUCATION 
OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS 


District SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT ON THE RATINGS OF PRINCIPALS AND TEACHERS IN CHARGE 


To the Superintendent of Schools 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


eS bP are 


...for the school year ending... 


ge in Districts.... 


The following ratings of Principals and Teachers in Char 


are respectfully submitted. 


District Superintendent 


Indicate exceptional service and specific weakness by the abbreviations E. and W. respectively, and give details, on reverse side 


of blank, in case of unsatisfactory rating. 


S 
N 
for) 
rm 


ia 


1 


16 


| 
| 
| 


13 | 14/15 


12 


8 9 |} 10/11 


7 


ie) 


Pu 


3 


2 


1 


| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 


(ssoujduroig 
‘AQVINIIV) Sy1odey pue sp10d07zy 


(ure4skg ‘aIBD 
‘eoloyO) seyddng pu syoog}zxe J, 


(SuolzB10O00q  ‘AuIOUODT ‘ssoulpuee[D 
‘siredoy) quoeurdinby pu suipiing 


(SuUOIsINOXY ‘SoryeyyV “e1jseqoIG, 
‘quvg [OOUOG) SolyIAlqoy B1zxW 
(SolmesieAluuy ‘UOIZeNpBIL 


‘sosloloxy Suluedg WOOISsB[O) 
SeslolIexyY I[qng pus A[quiessy 


(SSB[Q ‘soueIE JO 
‘ooyog ‘oqnd) setreiqry jo esp 


UOIJONIYSUT JO S}]NSexy 


suv[g ‘uol}eyoiId104UT 
‘Apnyg Jo esinogd jo uo1eoyddy 


(eInps001g 
eyo ‘surynoy ‘suluiuleiZ01g 
SSB[Q pus [OOGIG) UOIZVZIUBZIO 


stidng jo ourdrosiq 
siidng jo Ayyenyoung puev sduvpus}zyy 


stidng jo uoljoulolg puv SuIpeir 
(STI oly ‘Bury e[I7U9 A 
‘Sulyysry ‘Suysoey ‘uoroedsuy 
TSOIpey) Sfidng jo Ajoyeg puv'yieeH 


HVIg jo Zuryey 
YeIGg [eozluee jo uorw1asedng 
(Spoyze ‘SUOTPETISIA “SUOSSO'T 


PEpoy, ‘suotpyoedsuy ‘seousIejuOy) 
Yei1g [euoissejorg jo uolstAredng 


HVIg [BIO pus 
‘sulgovey, ‘SutstArlodng jo JusulUsZIssy 
oqng pus sjusIeg RIM suol}Vloy 


(‘ojo ‘s1ostaredng 
‘spedioullg 19430 ‘serjogyny) 
sTeIOWJO [OOYo, WIM uOoTZBIEdQ0D 


diysispvey Zuttdsuy 


: "Q—Alopovjstyesuy 
G—AIOPVISIPBG :BulZVY [BIIUIy 


Do Not Include 
Senior Teachers 
on this blank 
NAME AND 
TITLE 


TOOHDS 

















EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 517 


Administrators must have a system of checks through 
which they may judge the worth of supervision. Not only 
should the administrator check up on supervision by means 
of intelligent teacher opinion, but he should have also a 
system of direct checks operated by himself. 

Through the use of rating cards. The use of the per- 
sonal rating card or one limited to classroom supervision has 
already been illustrated in this chapter. 

‘Other types of rating cards to be applied to supervisors 
and principals will include, of course, both administrative 
and supervisory matters. We are here chiefly concerned 
with the supervisory activities. In an excellent study of 
rating elementary-school principals, McClure has sum- 
marized the controlling principles and present practices." 
His samples of rating ecards are suggestive and worthy of 
study. Only one is included here from his list (page 516). 

McClure gives the following suggestions regarding rating. 
Though he is discussing the principal his material is equally 
applicable to the supervisor.?” 


SUGGESTIONS FOR THE SuccessruL RATING OF PRINCIPALS IN 
SERVICE 


1. Simplicity: Rating standards should be simply and clearly 
stated; the list of activities included should be mainly 
functional rather than personal in character; it should 
be limited to those which can be readily observed and 
correctly evaluated by the rating official. 

2. Constructiveness of Aim: Component elements of the rating 
blank need not be weighted; in the interest of simplicity 
and general acceptability they should not be weighted. 
Exactness in determining the principal’s final “mark” is 
less vital than constructive criticism or commendation 
based upon an understanding analysis of service rendered. 


11 Worth McClure, ‘‘The Rating of Elementary School Principals 
in Service,’’ Fourth Yearbook of the Department of Elementary 
School Principals, 1925, pp. 424-46. 

12 Ibid., p. 446. 


018 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


3. Follow-Up: If the rating plan is to be productive of their 
fullest returns, principals should know the official esti- 
mate of service. They should be made to feel the admin- 
istration’s appreciation of their achievements, and not 
only its desire for the individual’s success but its general 
readiness to be helpful in every possible way. 
4, Cooperation and Support from the Principals’ Corps: The 
subject of rating in service is one which is worthy of the 
serious consideration of professionally-minded principals: 
(a) Clearer definition and wider recognition of the prin- 
cipal’s status are logical results of a successfully 
administered rating plan. 

(b) The support and codperation of the principals will 
be valuable in the formulation of practicable rating 
standards. 


Through the observation and records of certain strategic 
supervisory activities. Rating cards as discussed above 
would ideally cover all points; however, there are certain 
things that supervisors do which considered alone are un- 
usually good indications of the worth of work being e¢ar- 
ried on. 

1. The supervisory plan or program. One of the two or 
three weak places in supervision in the past has been its 
planlessness. Coffman eriticized supervision for not fulfill- 
ing its promises, but he might as well have said that it made 
no promises. A good indication of good supervision is a 
carefully constructed program of work for a semester or 
year. Such a program lifts the supervision from the realm 
of the desultory and haphazard to that which might be 
called educational engineering. The plans should show, as 
set forth in Chapter IV: 


(a) A set of carefully determined objectives 

(b) An outline of the means to be used in attaining these ob- 
jectives 

(c) A statement of the checks to be used in determining 
progress and success 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 519 


2. Curriculum-building. A second vitally important 
function of supervision is the making and constant revision 
of curriculums, the selection and organization of subject 
matter into courses of study. Hither alone or in conjunc- 
tion with his teachers the supervisor should be constantly 
at work upon the course of study. The evidences of this 
are easily cbservable. There should be apparent within the 
school system an organization for carrying on the work. 
Weekly outlines and programs of lessons from the teachers 
should be in evidence as indications that the staff is being 
stimulated by the supervisor and are coéperating in this 
important undertaking. Other results of the supervisor’s 
activity can be found by examining the course of study as 
it is, by noting loose-leaf additions, mimeographed material 
under trial, ete. 

3. Tests and measurements. Supervisors can be judged 
in some of the subjects in much the same way that teachers 
are checked. The application of standard tests and meas- 
urements to classes that have been under supervision affords 
a fairly accurate index of the supervisor’s services, espe- 
cially when the scores are checked against those of classes 
that have not been under supervision. Care must be taken, 
of course, to give due weight and attention to other factors 
in the situaticn, as the previous experience of the classes, 
the make-up of the classes, the relative teacher abilities in- 
volved, ete. | 

The work of the supervisor in using diagnostic tests and 
in prescribing remedial instruction should also be carefully 
scrutinized. Consistent programs of remedial work based 
upon the situation in hand and earried forward ener- 
ectically are indications of good supervision. 

4. Research. Supervisors must have the research atti- 
tude. This, of course, will be shown in the method in which 
they attempt the making of a program, the building of cur- 
riculums, the prescription of remedial work and many other 


520 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


things. There should be in evidence the results of actual 
research in these and other fields carried on during the 
period. 

Research for its own sake should perhaps not play a part 
in supervision. 

5. Adminstratwe relationships. The administrator will 
inevitably hear of any friction between supervisors or be- 
tween supervisor and building principal. He will note also 
the absence of such friction. The smooth work of line and 
staff together and the lack of friction in dovetailing the 
plans of both generalist and specialist indicate good super- 
vision. The absence of these things calls for the attention 
of the administrator. 

The administrator will also have cause to know from time 
to time the success of his supervisory staff in disseminating 
and earrying out his announced policies. | 

6. Records and reports. The supervisor should be re- 
quired to keep a complete record of the number of meetings, 
grade, general, departmental, ete., held by him during a 
semester or quarter, together with a record of the amount 
of time used, the number of people in attendance, the topics 
discussed, ete. Such records are not necessarily and by 
themselves indications of good supervision, but when 
checked and compared with teacher opinion and results, 
they are a legitimate means of determining supervisory effi- 
ciency. 

Special attention should be paid to the supervisor’s rec- 
ord of room visitations and individual conferences. Such 
activities are an effective means of improving instruc- 
tion. The record should show the number of visits, the 
time spent, and the points discussed. If suggestions or di- 
rections are given to the teacher, their nature should be out- 
lined in the report. Demonstration lessons should be very 
briefly outlined. Devices for use in drill, in teaching, and 
in discipline that are found in use by teachers should be 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 521 


passed on to others and due credit given in the report. 
Copies of supervisory bulletins should be filed. 

In addition to these records of classroom work, super- 
visors should doubtless be required to file rather compre- 
hensive semestral or annual reports. Following is an out- 
line used in Philadelphia for the principal’s annual report. 


OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT 
DISTRICT SIX 
McCall School 
7th and Delancey Streets 


September 13, 1923 
To THE PRINCIPAL: 


Principal’s Annual Report 


Below are listed a number of items concerning information 
which should be included in the Principal’s Annual Report. 


I. Professional Activities 
1. Dates of general faculty meetings with statement of 
principal topic of discussion and amount of time 
devoted to its discussion 
2. Dates of group meetings with statement of topic of 
meeting. (Indicate nature of group—for example, 
first and second grade teachers, and amount of time) 

3. Number of conferences held with individual teachers 

to discuss items indicated on rating card 

5. Number of visits made by teachers for purposes of 

observation 

(a) within school 

(b) to other schools 

(c) to schools in other cities 

6. Principal’s observation in other schools (Indicate 

school and data) 

7. Tests given in school other than those issued from the 
Central Office. (Brief statement of nature of test 
and use made of results) 

. Serial number, title, and date of exhibits forwarded 
to this office throughout the year 


ie) 


522 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


9, Any other items of interest regarding the professional 
activities of the principal within the school 

10. Brief statement of the accomplishments of the year 
along professional lines 


II. 1. Principal’s Daily Program. Indicate briefly general 

distribution of time in 
(a) office 
(b) building inspection 
(c) classroom observation 
(ad) professional meetings and conferences 

2. Forms used in administrative work, letters, ete., other 
than those issued from the Central Office. Attach 
copies of forms used. 

3. Number of classes making visits or excursions 
(a) historic 
(b) ecivie 
(c) geographic 
(d) general 

4. Meetings of parents 
(a) date 
(6) nature of exercises 
(c) approximate attendance 

5. School exhibitions, play days, ete. 
(a) date 
(b) nature of exercises 
(c) approximate attendance 

6. School property 
Brief statement of physical conditions of building. 
Indicate 
(a) essential repairs and alterations 
(b) desirable repairs and alterations 


III. Additional items of interest not covered in I, II 


IV. Recommendations and suggestions 
Any recommendations, suggestions, or criticisms regarding 
the problem of professional work in the school or in the 
district 
Sincerely yours, 
Epwin W. ApAmMs 
Supt., District Number 6 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 523 


A typical report blank for rural supervisors is used by 
the State Department of Education in Alabama, and._is 
included here through the kind permission of Miss Cassie 
R. Spencer, State Supervisor of Elementary Education. 


State oF ALABAMA 


DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 


SUPERVISOR’S MONTHLY REPORT 


To be made in duplicate, one copy to be filed with the county 
superintendent of education and one copy to be sent to the State 
Department of Education. 


IRBPORIV OR EN, 5 hace eo ayecciels SL UPERVISOR OF 03.0. cs esses County 


I. Statistics: These figures should be accurate. 
1. Number rooms visited........ Number teachers visited 


3. Number hours spent in classrooms........ (Include all 
time spent at school if working on teaching problems) 
Number hours spent on road........ 

4. Wixpense for month $........... (Include total amount 
spent for expenses of supervision regardless of whe 
paid it): 

PAPE AVINONTSHONWCAI cif. PUL. cleis ec a ce ee 
RUM COTICOLVCAT 10, ae'ss & 0 nis oot ieueieta tere a fe 
(SSE? a A I Se PPS Pc 
SEAS "OUP ASEM CITES ing eae PCA GE upbeat 

5. Number days spent by supervisor in preparing outlines, 
letters to teachers, materials for teachers’ meetings, 
Dae Ol GCUOO FaIT Ss OLC.: 5). 60) foih: oie Fiegs suaueint si gain ee ole 

6. Name those sources of material that have been helpful to 
you this month, magazines, books, ete. 


oeeereevreev eee eereevr ee eeevreeeeveeeeeeeer eevee eee ee eeeeeeee 


524 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


II. Mrretinas ATTENDED BY SUPERVISOR: 
1. Teachers’ meetings. Number hours spent in teachers’ 
meetings during month ................ 


Supervisor's part in 


Place No. teachers present meeting 


2. Community meetings attended by supervisor during 
month: 


Supervisors part in 


Place Kind of meeting meeting 


3. Other educational meetings attended: 


Help received from 


Place Kind of meeting meatnG 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 525 


III. Supervisory PROCEDURE: 

Select from one to three phases of classroom work upon 
which you have placed most emphasis during the 
month. Discuss your procedure under the following 
items: 


Phase of Work | Diagnosis and procedure in meeting the needs 


IV. MIsceELLANEOvus ITEMS: 
1. Additional types of activities in which supervisor ha? 
engaged this month. 


2. What does the supervisor regard as the most important 
things attempted or accomplished this month? 


3. What help that could be given by the State Department 
is most needed at present? 


4. Remarks: 


5. Superintendent’s remarks regarding progress of super- 
vision, recommendations to the State Department, ete. 


DRE RE VasPa icles Site Sate ck cola c aietela eretlatela ae SUPERVISOR 


526 THE SUPERVISION. OF INSTRUCTION 


Another brief summary of points to be reported upon is 
found in the following letter sent out by Albert 8. Cook, 
State Superintendent of Schools, Maryland: ** 


To the Supervising or Helping Teacher: 


I should like to have a typewritten report from each of you 
concerning your more important activities of the school year on 
or before July 1, 1924. It should include, among other things: 

(a) the number and type of teachers’ meetings which you con- 

ducted, or in which you participated, with sample pro- 
grams of each kind; comment on the relative value of 
each type 

(6) progress made in the realization of this year’s State-wide 

and county objectives; extent to which you used stand- 
ard tests this year, and what you plan to do with tests 
next year 

(c) comment on helps and handicaps in your work 

(d) means employed to inform the public concerning the work 

of the school and the function of supervision 

(e) possible county objectives for next year 

(f) summary of activities by months 


A copy of this report should be filed with your superintendent 
for presentation to the county board of education. 

This report should probably not contain more than five thou- 
sand words, exclusive of mimeographed sheets which you may 
wish to file with it to illustrate or supplement the report. This 
report is not for publication, but should be written so that it 
will readily be comprehended by an intelligent layman in educa- 
tion. The supervisor should not devote more than three days 
to the preparation of the report. 


Sincerely yours, 
ALBERT §. Cook 
State Superintendent of Schools 


13‘* A Year’s Supervision of Elementary Instruction in Caroline 
County, 1923-1924,’’ Maryland School Bulletin, State Department of 
Education, Vol. 6, Jan., 1925, p. 3. 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 527 


Following is the annual report of a general supervisor, 
submitted by Miss Eleanor Johnson, of Oklahoma City. 


YEARLY REporT 1923-24 
Primary Department 
General Supervisory Objectives 


1. Homogeneous grouping of all pupils in the first three grades: 


All teaching in each of the primary grades has been organized 
on a three group basis in order to meet the needs of the individual 
child. Between five and six thousand children have been tested 
with the Binet-Simon Intelligence Test. This mammoth undertak- 
ing has been made possible through Mr. L. D. Lacy’s outstanding 
work. Practically every teacher in the primary department has 
been enrolled in Mr. Lacy’s extension classes in the “Intelligence 
Testing.” Three factors have been taken into account in this 
grouping, namely, 

(a) The teacher’s judgment 

(b) The child’s achievement score 

(c) The child’s intelligence quotient 

The first two factors have been given primary consideration. In 
the larger schools where facilities permitted, each teacher has 
been assigned only one or sometimes two groups of the same 
grade. In the smaller schools the three group division has been 
made within each single room or grade. 


2. Improvement of Instruction: 

The training of teachers in service and the improvement of 
classroom instruction, which is the chief business of the super- 
visor, has been carried on by numerous means as listed in Table 1. 


3. Diagnosis of Individual Needs: Remedial Treatment 

The needs of each individual child have been studied and an 
effort put forth to meet these needs. Standardized tests and 
informal tests have been used and interpreted for diagnostic 
purposes. The teachers’ efforts in reading have been guided by 
the results obtained from the Gray Oral Reading Check Tests and 
the Monroe Standardized Silent Reading Tests. Remedial treat- 
ment has been applied to meet the needs revealed by these tests. 
The results of the tests given in May show much improvement in 


528 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


practically every grade. The technique of instruction in arith- 
metic and spelling has been reduced to a group and individual 
basis. Maximum, average, and minimum assignments of work 
have been made to assist in meeting the problem of individual 
differences. 


4. Revision of the Course of Study: This work has gone 
forward for two years. All this material has been put out in 
mimeographed form. Now that it has been tried out, revised, 
and met the test of classroom teaching for two years, it is about 
ready to go into a printed course of study form. See Recom- 
mendations. 


5. Preparation of Materials of Instruction: 

Complete sets of materials of instruction have been compiled 
by the primary teachers, duplicated on the mimeograph and sent 
to every building and in some cases to every teacher. Over 12,000 
ecards have been put out in the following subjects: 

(a) History—a set of 20 to each building 

(b) Arithmetic—11,000 practice cards, one sent to each 2A, 

3B, 3A teacher 

(c) Silent reading cards—several sets of 100 cards to a set to 

each building 
This is a new type of work which promises to play a very im- 
portant part in primary instruction-in the future. 


6. Project Work Elaborated and Clarified: 

An entirely new course, namely, History and Community Life, 
has been introduced into the primary curriculum this year. Much 
project work has been carried out in connection with this work 
and through the splendid cooperation of Mrs. Jarrott in the art 
work. 


7. Leisure Reading: 

A rather unusual departure from the traditional curriculum 
has been given a thorough trial this year. Each day a definite 
period is set aside at which time every child in every grade 
is given an opportunity to read for mere pleasure. The best 
books from every field of human endeavor have been secured 
for this leisure reading program. In the first grade the child 
is introduced to the best editions of Mother Goose, fairy tales 
and some realistic tales. 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 529 


When the child reaches the fourth grade he is brought in 
contact with a wider, more diversified field of reading, namely, 
biography, science, history, fiction, travel, ete. Not only will 
the child’s taste be directed and guided during his six years in 
the elementary school, but he will also receive valuable training 
for leisure occupation. 


Recommendations 


1. Provision should be made for teachers’ contributions to the 
improvement of instruction similar to the Detroit plan. Records 
should be kept of each original contribution and this should be 
considered when opportunity for promotion arises. Encourage- 
ment in the form of advancement is recommended also. 


2. All teachers new in the system should be required to take 
an extension course under the general supervisor of her depart- 
ment and full credit should be given for such course. 


3. The school system should be definitely organized under the 
respective supervisors for the production of curriculum ma- 
terials. 


4, A new type of supervisory report is needed. Such a report 
should set forth the plan of supervision for the semester or 
year under the following or similar headings: 

(a) Objectives—in terms of situation you are dealing with 
(b) Means of achieving objectives 
(c) Means of checking the outcomes of these objectives 


5. One of the duties of the supervisor should be to assist the 
superintendent in the appraisal, selection, transfer, and appoint- 
ment of teachers. 


6. It would be of great advantage to the system financially and 
to the teachers individually to have a new printed course of 
study for the primary grades. This material is available when- 
ever the money is appropriated for such work. 


_7. In order to reduce the number of failures and in order that 
teachers may handle an increased enrollment more efficiently, it 
is recommended that special rooms be established for those pupils 
who cannot profit by the ordinary classroom instruction. In de- 
termining who shall be eligible for admission to such rooms, per- 


530 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


PRIMARY SUPERVISORY 
YEAR 








Month 1] Month 2 





1. Training of teachers in service 
(a) Teachers’ meetings—supervisor conducts teacher 
training in expert phases of various subjects.... 1 nf 
(6)* ‘Institutes ses scben ete eae er eee coe ee teen eke 1 
(c) Organization of teachers for improvement of in- 
struction through Mr. Lacy’s extension courses— | 4 classes | each week 


four classes i; Ae wate cee eee eae cers 
(d) Intervisitation—number of teachers.............- 20 15 
(e) Directed observation cf expert teaching.......... 43 ak 
(f) Rating of teachers—number of teachers.........- & 
(9g) flbecturers sci. ed ees Cee fy a ae teeeerire te 
(h) State Teachers’ Association—teachers participating. nite eee 
(2) Conference! with teachers)2.78 Pat a Let. © 75 42 
(7) 7 -Glassroom SUDELVISLONG secon Lele teeters 103 42 
(k) Classroom demonstration teaching.............4. 38 24 
(Ove Educational exhibitsieaen me. el ee Pete 1 Bie ate 
(m) Using standardized tests for judging and improv- 

ANS CIASSFOOMINSUPUCtLOM eit oo act eerie 
(n) Interpretation of the measurement of results...... eek eR 
(0) Training of new teachers in system—meeting...... 3 4 


2. Preparation of routine and instructional materials 
(a) Course of study 


(1) State—ready for publication .............. a v4 
(2) City—ready for publication............... De x 
(6) Outlines 
(1) History Lhistory | 1 reading 
(2) Informal Tests—Reading 40 pp. 


(3) Spelling 

(4) Gardens—Birds 

(5) Remedial Work in Reading 
(6) Arithmetic 

(7) Routine Factors 


(c) Materials of Instruction History 
(1) History pictures—set for every building Pictures 


(2) Silent Reading Cards—set for every building. 
(3) Arithmetic Cards—set for every building 


(d) The Primary Exchange for the dissemination of the 
best practices of the system.............-.ee0+ 


3. Professional Activities—participation in 
(a) State Teachers’ Association 
(>) ie Beachers’ Institutes 285 a8) onc sinh nicdedic che Mbasktae eee sw hy 
CLE CIty RAS ae ciate irene ee mrtiass lelatin ea ecr Gaaher ocean nea 1 
(2); Gounty . ts eohiion here. ork ee epee eee if 


4. Community Activities—selling instruction to Patrons’ 
Chub) teat Seer lee es eet hack ee ee eee bt 1 


5. General Administrative Activities 
(a) 4 Budgets and expenditterés \jieun.2 2 aa oars es ee 
(6) Surveys, reports, records, schedules.............. 
(c) Distribution off supplies awe «cic eee 
(d) Selection of textbooks—distribution of same...... 


Beebe 
w 





6. Supervision of colored schools same as above through 
colored’ supervisor. <1 oe boc. a ee ee ee eee > ir 





EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 531 





ACTIVITIES 
1923-1924 
FREQUENCY OF OCCURRENCE 
Total 
Month 3 Month 4 |Month 5|Month 6 | Month 7 Month 8 Month 9 
4 1 1 4 
sa aes 1 
16 16 16 16 16 16 16 144 
10 147 10 8 6 4 reek, 220 
113! 9 12 6 4 5 See 111 
Ch ted 178 ee eae 180 358) 
‘ he 1 aeeae il 
4 ee 4 
46 38 50 67 51 bs 422 
46 38 50 67 51 53 422 
15 11 9 8 7 6 118. 
1 tains 2 
178 
classes Kate 180 358 
AT 41 39 44 AG, f 171 
4 3 4 4 4 3 29 
xX x x x 2x ~ x 
x x x x xX xX x 
1 spelling | 1 routine birds arithmetic 8 
factors gardens 
remedial 
work in 
reading 
2 silent 
reading 
arithmetic 3 
11,000 cards 
1. 1 1 3 
1 1 Pn 
Fé d, e Aie NR ae 1 3 4 11 
es 1 1 1 
1 1 2 2 zh | 
ys of set 1 5 fe 
1 5 3 
x om x x < x ~ 





ELEANOR M. Jounson, Primary Supervisor 


5382 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


haps Mr. Lacy’s department should set up the necessary tech- 
nique. 


8. It is recommended that specially trained teachers be placed 
in each large building or between two smaller buildings for the 
purpose of diagnosing and giving remedial treatment to those 
children who are pathological cases in reading. Based on the 
cost of non-promotions in our system, the hiring of such teachers 
will be an economy rather than an added expense. Many of the 
pupil failures in grades 4, 5, 6, in arithmetic, geography and 
history can be traced directly to a reading disability and lack 
of understanding. 


9. The establishment of a kindergarten-primary unit is nec- 
essary to the uninterrupted advancement of our pupils. Such a 
measure would be a decisive step forward in lowering the kinder- 
garten-primary mortality. 


10. In order that a new type of work, namely, “experierce 
getting” and giving, may be carried on in the kindergarten and 
primary grades, it is suggested that a number of portable stere- 
optican lanterns and slides be purchased. 


Summary. Supervision, like teaching, should be evalu- 
ated. The principles and purposes are in each case 
the same. ‘‘There should be commendation of the good, 
condemnation of the bad, and suggestion of the better.’’ 
The purposes are chiefly to improve supervision, and sec- 
ondly to determine fitness in its relation to tenure, promo- 
tion, and salary. 

The fair-minded judgment of the majority of the teach- 
ing body under supervision is a very valuable source of in- 
formation concerning the worth of any supervisor or pro- 
gram of supervision. While difficult to secure this opinion, 
it should no+ be neglected. Not only is it valuable, but to 
provide for its open and honest expression will aid ma- 
terially in preventing the unfair, under-cover criticisms 
which often wreck supervision before a fair trial has been 
given. 


EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 533 


Supervisors should engage in self-rating, self-analysis, 
and in self-improvement in the same way, and to a greater 
degree than teachers do. 

Administrators who are responsible to the public, and 
who must justify expenditures for all phases of educational 
work must of necessity have methods of determining the 
efficiency of the specialists whom they employ. Rating 
ecards may be used, or strategic supervisory activities may 
be scrutinized. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


1. Birp, Grace E., “Teachers’ Estimates of Supervisors,” School 
and Society, Vol. 5, June 16, 1917, pp. 717-20. 

2. Bossrrt, Franklin, “Mistakes Often Made by Principals,” 
Elementary School Journal, Vol. 22, two parts, Jan. and 
Feb., 1920, pp. 337-46; 419-34. 

3. Burton, W. H., Supervision and the Improvement of Teach- 
ing (D. Appleton & Co., 1922), Chap. XVITI. 

4. CorrmMan, L. D., “Control of Educational Progress through 
Supervision,” Proceedings of the National Education As- 
sociation, Vol. 55, 1917, pp. 187-94. 

5. Coox, A. S., Sturpson, I. Jewell, and HmAny, Katherine, “A 
Year’s Supervision of Elementary Instruction in Caroline 
County,” Maryland School Bulletin, Vol. 6, Jan., 1925. 

6. Coox, Selda, “Teachers’ Idea of Helpful Supervision,” EHdu- 
cational Administration and Supervision, Vol. 9, Dec., 1923, 
pp. 554-57. Well-organized brief report. 

7. CRANOR, Katherine, “A Self-Scoring Card for Supervisors 
as an Aid to Efficiency in School Work,” Educational Ad- 
ministration and Supervision, Vol. 7, Feb., 1921, pp. 91- 
102. Good discussion and bibliography. One of the first 
eards printed for self-rating by supervisor. 

8. “Economy in Educational Supervision,” School Board Jour- 
nal, Vol. 68, May, 1924, pp. 115-16. An article comment- 
ing upon supervision in several Ohio towns. Advocates 
that supervision be not reduced but made more effective. 

9. EncetHArpDT, N. L., “Score Card of the Records and Reports 
of a City School System,” School Board Journal, Vol. 68, 
April, 1924, p. 70. 


534 


10. 


pte 


12. 


dst 


14. 


15. 


16. 


Th 


18. 


ake? 


20. 
21. 


22. 


23. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Gist, A. S., and Kine, William A., “The Efficiency of the 
Principalship from the Standpoint of the Teacher,” 
Elementary School Journal, Vol. 23, Oct., 1922, pp. 
120-26. 

Hayes, Fannie B., “Supervision from the Point of View of 
the Teacher,’ School Review, Vol. 33, March, 1925, pp. 
220-26. Good summary of opinion but no data. Inspec- 
torial supervision complained of is not so prevalent as 
some believe. 

Hitz, Sallie, “Defects of Supervision and Constructive Sug- 
gestions Thereon,” Proceedings of the National Education 
Association, Vol. 57, 1919, pp. 506-09. 

Horrawu, A. H., “The Elementary School Principal from the 
Teacher’s Point of View,” Hlementary School Journal, 
Vol. 24, June, 1924, pp. 742-46. 

Howarp, George, “A Measure for County School Systems,” 
School Board Journal, Vol. 69, Sept., 1924, pp. 48 ff. 

Hugues, Hilda, “Lessons in Supervision of Rural Schools 
from the Indiana Experiment,’ Proceedings of the Na- 
tional Education Association, Vol. 65, 1925, pp. 568-76. 
Exeellent account showing value of supervision. 

Kewttry, G. H., “Types of Supervisors I Have Known,” 
School Board Journal, Vol. 68, June, 1924, pp. 54 ff. Dis- 
cusses five types. Brief but very good. 

Koons, Carrie E., “Supervision of Teaching: Viewpoint of 
the Teacher,” Pennsylvania School Journal, April, 1920, 
p. 438. 

“Lincoln, Nebraska, Supervision Forum,” Journal of Educa- 
tional Method, Vol. 2, April, 1923, pp. 351-52. 

McCuvre, Worth, “The Rating of Elementary School Prin- 
cipals in Service,’ Fourth Yearbook, Department of Ele- 
mentary School Principals, 1925, pp. 424, 446. 

McMorry, F. M., Hlementary School Standards (World 
Book Co., 1914), pp. 178-79. 

Miter, I. E., Education for the Needs of Life (The Macmil- 
lan Co., 1917), pp. 304, 339-40. 

Morrison, J. Cayce, “Supervision from the Teacher’s View- 
point,” Journal of Educational Method, Vol. I, Dee., 1921, 
pp. 131-38. Good on teacher evaluation of supervision. 

Newton, Jesse H., “Attitude of the Teacher toward Super- 
vision,” Proceedings of the National Education Association, | 
Vol. 61, 1923, pp. 548-51. 





EVALUATING EFFICIENCY OF SUPERVISORS 535 


24. 


25. 


26. 


Ale 


28. 


20, 
30. 


31. 


32. 
33. 
34, 


35. 


Nort, H. W., The Supervision of Instruction (Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1920). Very good chapter, pp. 231-65. 

, “The Attitude of Teachers toward Supervision,” 

Educational Research Bulletin, Ohio State University, Vol. 

3, Feb. 6, 1924, pp. 59-64. Excellent report of careful 

inquiry. Shows teachers to be very much in favor of super- 

vision which produces results. 





OxserHourzer, E. E., “The Next Step in School Supervision,” 


Proceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 
60, 1922, pp. 1439-45. Good. Plea for scientific study of 
supervision. 

Peters, C. C., “Improvement of Facilities for Professional 
Training of Superintendents,” Hducational Administration 
and Supervision, Vol. 6, Sept., 1920, pp. 337-45. 

PouiicH, R. E., “Superintendents’ Standards and Policies in 
the Selection, Appointment and Promotion of Elementary 
School Principals,” Elementary School Journal, Vol. 26, 
Oct., 1925, pp. 107-11. 

Ricu, 8S. G., “Rating of Principals and Superintendents,” 
Education, Vol. 42, pp. 496-500. Advocates rating of 
principals by teachers. Gives good simple card. 

Ristey, J. H., “The Superintendent’s Annual Report,” Ele- 
mentary School Journal, Vol. 26, Nov., 1925, pp. 186-89. 
Brief reference to supervisor’s report. 

Saunpers, M. Olga, “What the Teachers Want from the 
Principal in His Capacity as a Supervisor,” School Review, 
Vol. 33, Oct., 1925, pp. 610-15. Good analysis of the high- 
school situation. 

Spencer, P. R., “A High-School Principal’s Self-Rating 
Card,” School Review, Vol. 30, April, 1922, pp. 268-73. 
Good eard. 

Spokane, Wash., Grade Teachers Association, Bulletin, April, 
1921, p. 10. Brief article discussing rating of supervisors 
by teachers. 

“Supervision and the Classroom Teacher,” editorial, Journal 
of the National Education Association, Vol. 14, March, 
1925, pp. 99-100. 

“Supervisory Activity in Rochester (N. Y.),” Journal of 
Educational Method, Vol. 3, Feb., 1924, p. 264. Letter 
of superintendent to supervisory department indicating the 
need of concrete evidence concerning the worth of super- 
vision. Good. 


586 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


36. Taytor, Joseph S., “Some Desirable Traits of the Super- 
visor,” Educational Administration and Supervision, Vol. 
9, Jan., 1923, pp. 1-8. An interesting and valuable article. 

37. Tipyman, W. F., “Teacher Questionnaires as a Device in 
Supervision,” Educational Administration and Supervision, 
Vol. 10, Dec., 1924, pp. 553-57. 

38. Touton, Frank C., “Score Card for the High-School Prin- 
cipal’s Annual Report,” School Board Journal, Vol. 67, 
July, 1923, pp. 52-53. Very good. 

39. Vance, W. McK., “How Shall the Superintendent Measure 
His Own Efficiency?” Proceedings of the National Educa- 
tion Association, 1914, pp. 279-83. 

40. WacnrErR, C. A., “The Arguments for and against Super- 
vision,” Proceedings of the National Education Associa- 
tion, Vol. 60, 1922, pp. 1438-39. Excellent brief summary. 

41, , “Some Types of Misconceived Supervision of Instrue- 
tion,” School Board Journal, Vol. 66, May, 1923, pp. 37 ff. 
Excellent characterization of supervisory types. 

, “How Supervisory Systems May Be Compared,” 

School Board Journal, Vol. 69, August, 1924, pp. 62 ff. 

Good listing of comparable elements. 





42. 





GHAP TR RwGLy. 
{THE TRAINING AND PERSONALITY OF SUPERVISORS 


Probably the most important element in the whole field 
of supervision, the most vital factor in the success or fail- 
ure of any scheme of supervision, is the personnel of the 
supervisory staff. Leadership is difficult enough in any 
activity and is doubly so when the group led is made up of 
individuals whose social status is the same as that of the 
leader. Furthermore, the teaching group is possessed of 
traditions and training that make all the more necessary a ' 
type of leadership that is essentially codperative. 

Most of the criticisms made of individual supervisors 
center upon the lack of training or experience or upon 
weaknesses in personality. Many of the arguments directed 
against the theory of supervision itself will be found upon 
careful analysis to be based upon the same points. 


I. Tur TRAINING OF SUPERVISORS 


General statements. The chief source of guidance, of 
course, in outlining a program of supervisory training, is 
to be found in a job-analysis of supervision. Obviously, if 
we know what supervisors do or should do, we ean with 
some accuracy set forth how they should be trained. It 
will be recalled that an analysis of supervisory activity was 
presented in the first chapter of this volume. Other some- 
what similar analyses may be found in the periodical litera- 

537 


5388 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


ture.t Little has been written until recently about the train- 
ing necessary for the type of leadership involved in the 
supervision of teachers. There can be no doubt that a thor- 
ough mastery of the general theory and specific practices 
involved in the whole problem of supervision is essential, 
not only that the supervision may be intelligent, but that 
the teacher’s confidence may be gained and held. 

Among the answers to a questionnaire replied to by 
teachers, Gray found the following statement : ? 


Only those men and women should be appointed as supervisors 
who are intimately acquainted with the problems and practices of 
the classroom, who are intelligently critical of what they observe, 
who are suggestive and constructive in their discussions of teach- 
ing problems, who are genuinely interested in the content and 
methods of instruction, and who consider the activities of the 
classroom the most important problems in a school system for 
study and investigation. 


As Gray points out, the statement might not be accept- 
able in the form given, but there can be no objection to the 
demand that if supervisors do not already possess the quali- 
fications set forth above, they should continue study and 
training until they become intelligent, constructive critics 
of classroom teaching. 

An opinion on the same topic from another point of view 
is found in an article by Hosic: * 


Of course the leader is prepared. He was not chosen from 
the ranks merely because he was a good fellow, after the cheerful 
American manner of regarding each person as able to fill any 


1A typical analysis of this type is to be found in Barr’s, ‘‘An 
Analysis of the Duties and Functions of Special Supervisors, a 
Study of the Detroit Supervisory Organization’? (University of 
Wisconsin Research Bulletin, 1926). 

2W.S. Gray, ‘‘Methods of Improving the Technique of Teaching,’’ 
Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, Dec., 1919, p. 263. 

3 J. F. Hosic, ‘‘The Democratization of Supervision,’’? School and 
Society, Vol. 2, March 20, 1920, p. 331. 


TRAINING AND PERSONALITY 539 


office in the gift of the public merely by virtue of being a 
citizen, or at least a resident. He recognized the unique oppor- 
tunities of the supervisor and made himself master of so much 
of tested and tried experience in that calling as has been so 
far collected and made available. He knew before he took office 
that supervision is not identical with administration; that it 
requires a sound knowledge of educational method and a thorough 
acquaintance with the best of present school practice; that a 
leader in education must keep in touch with current literature 
and investigation; that he must be able to make intelligent use 
of modern statistical and experimental material as well as of the 
more philosophical and abstract disquisitions of the neo-scho- 
lasties; that circumstances and individuals are always different, 
and therefore, he must be always ready to discover and welcome 
something new; that a course of study should be more than an 
outline of topics, and a teachers’ meeting more than a guard- 
mount for general orders or a desultory talk-fest; that specific 
directions are better than vague theories, and good example bet- 
ter than either; and that if you really want to know what is 
going on in the classrooms of your school, you have to go and 
see, go often, look and listen, and stay through. 


The last part of the quotation is an admirable statement 
in general terms of some of the important phases of super- 
visory training. The opening sentences, however, focus at- 
tention upon one of the gross abuses and vital dangers in 
the selection of supervisors. Actually, many of the leaders 
are not trained. 

Again, while a supervisor should not be chosen merely 
“‘because he is a good fellow,’’ it is undoubtedly true that 
many are chosen because they are good friends of some ad- 
ministrative officer or member of the board. Teachers are 
justified in many of their complaints that supervisors are 
often appointed because of social or political ‘‘pull.’’ This 
situation presents one of the most difficult problems in the 
American schools. The only satisfactory solution will come 
as the result of lengthy evolutionary process. There must 
be an education of the public and the development of publie 
opinion to an intelligent understanding of the needs of the 


540 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


schools and of the standards that must prevail for the train- 
ing and selection of teachers, administrators, and super- 
visors. Practically all maladministration flourishes under 
cover and can be cured best by bringing to bear the weight 
of public opinion. Revolutionary methods will cure tem- 
porarily sometimes but usually bring with them other evils. 
Nevertheless, violent methods are sometimes necessary to 
jar public opinion and to rebuke crooked school officers. 
However, teachers who criticize the supervisory system be- 
cause of those unfair appointments must remember that 
despite certificate requirements there are still a considerable 
number of appointments made to the teaching force itself 
on the same basis. There are many incompetent teachers 
retained in office in the same way that incompetent super- 
visors are—through favoritism and influence. The defect 
is not peculiar to supervision, and the trouble in both teach- 
ing and supervision will be reduced more and more as 
standards become better known and more rigidly enforced. 

Reduction of these general statements to specific re- 
quirements. Just how much teaching experience should 
be required of candidates for supervisory positions? Is 
normal graduation a sufficient scholastic preparation? Is 
college work necessary? Graduate work? What specific 
courses and fields of information should be included in the 
normal school or college work? Is there necessity for train- 
ing supervisors in service as there is for training teachers? 

While the analysis of supervisory activity has attracted 
considerable attention recently, there have been few at- 
tempts to follow it up with an outline of the training which 
would be inferred. Courses in the theory and practice of 
supervision have multiplied very rapidly, particularly at 
the leading universities. Only in rare instances, however, 
are these courses a part of a thoroughgoing, coherent pro- 
gram of supervisory training. The following outline is 
purely theoretical though every effort has been made to out- 


TRAINING AND PERSONALITY O41 


line the theory in terms of the actual practice of super- 
vision. 

How much teaching experience is necessary? It seems 
fair to insist that a supervisor shall have had as a minimum 
five years’ teaching experience. The principle of individual 
differences should qualify this, of course. Less than this 
amount of experience will hardly give that easy familiarity 
with classroom procedure which is necessary, nor will it 
beget confidence on the part of those supervised. On the 
other hand, merely lengthening the term of experience 
does not necessarily better either teaching or supervisory 
ability. 

One of the common pleas made by older teachers is that 
supervisors should be appointed only from among those 
teachers who have taught eight or ten, even twelve or fifteen 
years. Sometimes the statement is even added that this 
should be the whole of a supervisor’s training; technical 
training is discounted. Such a statement is a phase of the 
popular fallacy, held by many teachers and school patrons 
alike, that the experienced teacher is necessarily the best. 
Again the principle of individual differences must be in- 
voked. Experience has no monopoly on success. Normal- 
school instructors, college teachers of education, and super- 
visory officers will testify that there are just as many poor 
teachers, just as many problems, among the older teachers 
as among the younger. There can be no doubt that long 
experience, coupled with an alert personality, plus training 
through the years, would make an ideal combination in the 
preparation of supervisors. The emphasis here is not 
against experience but against the idea that long experience 
is an absolute prerequisite to supervisory work. In my 
own classes in supervision the three poorest students ever 
enrolled were three people each of whom had taught over 
ten years. The poorest teacher I ever visited was one who 
had taught in the same room for fourteen years. 


042 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


The amount of technical training. Ideally, graduation 
from both a normal school and a college would be desirable. 
Normal graduates who become skilled teachers and who also 
show marked capacity for supervisory leadership should be 
given every opportunity to take advanced work during the 
year. A leave of absence might be granted in order that 
special work might be taken for a year at a college or uni- 
versity. In some cases graduate work should be encour- 
aged, particularly for better positions. This insistence 
upon advanced work does not mean that such work neces- 
sarily fits one for supervision. A bachelor’s degree or a 
year spent in graduate study will not necessarily fit one for 
supervision, any more than will long experience. The col- 
lege provides an ideal opportunity for the study of theory 
and practice. More important than the length of study and 
number of courses is the nature and content of those 
courses. More important than either experience or study 
is the nature of the individual’s personality. 

The nature of the techncal traning. Obviously the su- 
pervisor needs to have a knowledge of the history and 
philosophy of education, principles of teaching method, an 
understanding of tests and measurements, knowledge of the 
modern movement in curriculum construction, ability to use 
scientific methods of research, some knowledge of adminis- 
trative problems, and of problems pertaining to school 
hygiene. In addition, there should be, of course, broad gen- 
eral education supplementing the professional. It would 
be difficult to make out a course of study for the prepara- 
tion of supervisors and be sure that it was complete and 
correct. The following can doubtless be improved upon by 
teachers, supervisors, and administrators, but it is offered as 
a tentative and suggestive summary. Part of the work 


listed is obviously in the normal-school field, part is in-— 


cluded in undergraduate college work, and some in graduate 
study. 


TRAINING AND PERSONALITY 543 


1. Pedagogy and psychology. The supervisor must be 
an artistic teacher. He must be able easily and effectively 
to teach lessons based on the course of study under condi- 
tions prevailing for the regular teacher. This ability is 
founded in part on natural ability, of course, and is en- 
hanced by experience. It can be improved very materially 
in most eases, however, through theoretical training, 
through the observation of artistic teaching done by experts, 
and by means of special practice teaching under expert 
supervision. The observation and practice teaching should 
be followed by critical analysis of the work done. 

The theoretical training must include a study of the prin- 
ciples of method, which in turn involves a study of the 
principles of learning. As has been stated before, teaching 
method is good only as it arouses desirable pupil activity. 
Therefore the nature of the pupil, his interests and capaci- 
ties, etc., are fundamental factors and must be studied. In 
addition to courses in method and in genetic psychology 
(both child study and adolescence), there should be others 
in general psychology and educational psychology. The 
thinking process should be analyzed and discussed in terms 
of children’s experiences. This study of pedagogy and 
psychology should include as an integral part the considera- 
tion of experimental pedagogy, which is so often neglected 
in normal-school courses. Participation in experimental 
work would be very beneficial. 

In two very helpful articles Charters points out the in- 
adequacy of general principles alone. The supervisor 
must be trained in the specific application of the principles 
as well. Practice in supervision should be available for the 
supervisor in training just as practice teaching is for the 


4W. W. Charters, ‘‘The Inadequacy of Principles of Teaching,’’ 
Educational Administration and Supervision, Vol. 4, April, 1918, 
pp. 215-21; and ‘‘The Administration of Methods of Teaching,’’ 
ibid., pp. 237-44. 


544 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


teacher in training. The routine details of visitation should 
be made clear as well as the nature and technique of profes- 
sional criticism. The observation of expert teaching fol- 
lowed by thorough analytic discussion should be provided. 
Many teachers believe that supervisors should be chosen 
only from among those teachers who have taught under 
supervision. A better application of this argument would 
probably be to include in the training requirements prac- 
tice teaching under the critical supervision of experts, this 
also to be followed by detailed discussion. 

The related field of classroom management, routine, and 
discipline should be studied in connection with the teaching 
process. The consideration here will lead to a brief study 
of the planning and construction of buildings and the ad- 
ministration of the physical plant. The emphasis in this 
latter work should be upon the contacts the grade teacher 
will make with such things and not primarily upon the 
viewpoint of the administrator. 

The experimental data upon which the daily program is 
based should be touched upon. 

2. Curriculum-making. In this field experimental peda- 
gvogy is again involved, with emphasis on ecurriculum-build- 
ing. The psychology of elementary-school subjects, their 
history in the curriculum, the arguments for and against 
their inclusion, should be dealt with. There should be prac- 
tical work in the selection of subject matter and the build- 
ing of curriculums. This involves practice in the analysis of 
social activities and needs, after the fashion set forth by 
Bobbitt and Charters. It involves also a careful serutiny 
of instructional materials and supplies, plus attempts to 
test them out in real situations. 

3. Theory and practice of testing and measuring. 
Studies to determine what subject matter is most useful in 
real life involve the field of educational measurements as 
well as that of subject matter, since many of the standard 


TRAINING AND PERSONALITY 545 


tests are based upon studies of social needs and usages. 
The history of the test movement, the theory underlying it, 
and the derivation and application of individual tests 
should be dealt with. This necessitates work in statistics as 
applied to education. 

The intelligence tests should be taken up historically, and 
a study made of the psychology underlying the different 
types. The theory and practice of administering the sev- 
eral tests must be included. The supervisor must be 
trained to use tests both for survey purposes and also for 
diagnostic use in planning remedial instruction. 

4. School hygiene. Closely related to this is the consider- 
ation of child hygiene. All intelligence tests should be sup- 
plemented by a brief examination of the child’s physical 
condition. This examination must of necessity be somewhat 
brief and superficial, but the supervisor should know the 
average age and weight norms, chest measurement, etc., and 
should be able to recognize the common symptoms of trouble 
with the eyes, ears, nose, or throat. The easily recognizable 
symptoms of children’s diseases should also be familiar to 
him. Children should be referred to the school nurse the 
doctor, dentist, or oculist as circumstances demand. 

In attending to the hygiene of the school child the super- 
visor must also be competent to pass on certain aspects of 
the hygiene of the school building itself. Proper standards 
as to the heating, lighting, ventilation, sanitation, and jani- 
torial service are all matters which may from time to time 
come to the attention of the supervisor. 

5. Improving teachers in service. In preparation for his 
activities in bringing to his teachers the best new departures 
and discoveries in education, the supervisor must be given 
opportunity to plan and hold teachers’ meetings. The tech- 
nique of the efficient committee and conference meeting 
must be worked out and applied. Definite bibliographic 
training should be given in practically all courses taken 


546 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


during training. The supervisor must know how to keep in 
touch with current periodicals and new books. 

It might be noted in passing that most of the devices the 
supervisor will use to improve his teachers in service will 
equally well improve him at the same time. For this reason 
the whole field of training in service is doubly vital, and 
anything bearing upon it should be brought to the attention 
of the supervisor. 

The difficult problems in the field of teacher rating should 
be most carefully canvassed. Practice in using several 
types of rating cards should be given, together with a study 
of the derivation of such scales. Practice In making up 
scales will be valuable since it will focus attention upon 
the desirable and undesirable elements in a teacher’s train- 
ing, activity, and personality. 

6. The general field of education. Not only will the su- 
pervisor’s activities be qualified by his knowledge of the 
aim of education, but he will often be called upon to ex- 
plain such things to his teachers. It is no disparagement 
of the average grade teacher to say that she is, more often 
than not, quite ignorant of the big general aim of education 
and unable to apply it to the smaller problems of classroom 
teaching. Ora more competent teacher may call into ques- 
tion the whole theory underlying a school subject or pro- 
cedure. The supervisor will need, therefore, to have ad- 
vanced work in the history, philosophy, principles, and sci- 
ence of education. He should be well read in these general 
fields and should also be familiar with the discussions in 
the periodicals that attempt to make the more abstract 
theories In some measure concrete. 

7. Administration. It was noted that supervision and 
administration were at one time the functions of the same 
officer and that even yet the two are often confused. The 
supervisor occupies a strategic position between the admin- 
istrative officers and the teaching force. He is primarily 


TRAINING AND PERSONALITY 547 


concerned with the betterment of teaching processes but 
must at times take the attitude of the administrative officer. 
In some cases definite administrative duties are carried by 
supervisors, especially in the ease of the building principal. 
On the other hand, the supervisor must be alert to teacher 
sentiment and take the position of an emissary of the teach- 
ing staff in presenting their views and desires to the admin- 
istration. 

Many supervisors themselves regard their work as admin- 
istrative and ally themselves with the powers above, despite 
the fact that their work is more nearly like that of the 
teachers. Ideally, supervisors should form a distinct group 
by themselves, building up standards, traditions, and a 
technique all their own. Could such a condition be brought 
about, much of the suspicion of supervisors existing among 
teachers would be dispelled. Likewise administrators 
would be able to rely more implicitly on supervisory reports 
of teacher sentiment if such reports were brought by indi- 
viduals not definitely allied with either side of a contro- 
versy. Expert supervisory leadership will come more 
quickly when it is realized that supervisors are neither ex- 
perienced teachers of good ability elevated to positions over 
their fellow, nor yet minor administrative officers in the 
nature of inspectors or spies. 

In training supervisors, therefore, attention to the field 
cf administration will be necessary. Phases that bear more 
directly upon his actual duties should be emphasized. The 
¢olleetion and distribution of school money, child account- 
ing, the responsibility to the community, the contacts with 
the public, the conduct of surveys, the construction of 
buildings and the management of the physical plant, the 
keeping and filing of records, the cost and sources of sup- 
plies, are probably matters with which the supervisor should 
be reasonably familiar. 

Probably one of the most important duties in this field 


548 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


will be the supervisor’s participation in the work of edu- 
cating and molding public sentiment. School patrons need 
to be educated to appreciate and approve new methods of 
teaching, of management, to approve of experiments, of 
expenditures, ete., and the supervisor with his accurate 
knowledge and first-hand data should appear before parent- 
teacher associations and other similar gatherings in the 
continuous effort to bring about better understanding of 
school problems. Because of this, his training should prob- 
ably include some reference to public speaking and news 
writing. 

In passing it should be noted that the supervisor should 
not only speak at parent-teacher associations and other 
meetings but should take an active part in organizing and 
directing such organizations. 

8. Training for research. Heretofore supervisors have 
not in general been trained in the technique and uses of 
research. However, it is perfectly obvious that in planning 
the supervisory program, in planning remedial teaching, in 
assisting teachers to organize experiments, and in con- 
stantly searching for new methods of solution for teaching 
problems, supervisors must make use of the research tech- 
nique. The very attitude of research will in itself correct 
many of the errors which have lessened the efficiency of 
supervision in the past. 

9. Training other than professional. In addition to this 
technical and professional training there should be goodly 
allowance made for general education. Literature needs no 
argument and should be included liberally. The problems 
in sociology and economics are vitally related to and ma- 
terially condition school problems. History and philosophy 
should precede and accompany the history and philosophy 
of education. Biology, or some other science in which the 


evolutionary point of view can be stressed, should be in- 
eluded. 


TRAINING AND PERSONALITY 549 


A most valuable item in the supervisor’s training will be 
the acquisition of the scientific method or attitude. For 
long this has been taught supposedly by means of the labo- 
ratory sciences. While it might be well to include some tra- 
ditional laboratory science in the supervisor’s experience, it 
is no guarantee of the scientific method because of the unsci- 
entific and unpsychological methods of teaching in vogue. 
The scientific attitude can be gained as well, if it can be 
gained at all, in the field of educational measurements, in 
experimental pedagogy, in conducting surveys and investi- 
gations. Wherever and whenever possible, the supervisor 
must learn to proceed on the basis of impartial, objective, 
mathematically precise, verifiable evidence gathered by ex- 
perts. Failing such evidence, a summary of the best expert 
opinion should be taken as a guide. 

The benefits that come from travel, from general reading, 
and from participation in community affairs not connected 
with the schools should not be overlooked. 

Guidance obtained, through a study of controversies re- 
garding supervision. <As stated in the beginning, the fore- 
going outlines of supervisory training are purely theoret- 
ical, Every effort has been made, of course, to keep them 
in. terms of the actual duties of a supervisor. Additional 
practical emphasis upon the necessity of careful training is 
obtained if we examine some of the criticisms of supervision. 
From time to time, teachers and others have expressed their 
opinions of supervisors and supervision, and it is easy to 
note that many of the criticisms really bear upon the mat- 
ter of training and personality. 

In Miss Hill’s famous discussion of ‘‘ Defects of Super- 
vision’’ she lists four difficulties.° Supervision is (1) not 
democratic; (2) supervisors lack training, experience and 


5 Sallie Hill, ‘‘ Defects of Supervision and Constructive Suggestions 
Thereon,’’ Proceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 
57, 1919, pp. 187-94. 


550 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


personality ; (3) the specialist supervisor requires too much 
of a teacher; and (4) rating power should not be included 
in supervision. Similarly Coffman states that the difficul- 
ties of supervision are that (1) it does not fulfill its prom- 
ises; (2) it is often inspectorial; (3) the selection of super- 
visors has been poor; and (4) there has been a lack of 
understanding of the technical nature of the supervisory 
process.® 

Four of these criticisms bear directly upon the problem 
of the training and personality of the persornel. Two more 
and possibly all the rest have indirect bearings upon the 
same topic. 


II. Tur PERSONALITY OF THE SUPERVISOR 


The supervisor’s personality is undoubtedly a vital fac- 
tor in the success of any program of supervision. Some ad- 
ministrators go so far as to list it as the most vital factor. 
What, then, is personality? What are the desirable ele- 
ments in the ideal supervisory personality ? Concerning the 
meaning of the term we may quote from Charters:* 


Personality is used by lazy thinkers as a catch-all term for 
qualities which they do not care to analyze. business man 
who is not much given to analysis asserts that personality is the 
element that makes a salesman, but if he cared to analyze the 
statement carefully he would always find that he meant certain 
traits of personality such as forcefulness, friendliness, and re- 
sourcefulness. Similarly a school superintendent may describe a 
teacher as being industrious and scholarly but without person- 
ality. The superintendent probably means, if he would analyze 
the term carefully, that the teacher lacks friendliness, foreeful- 


6L. D. Coffman, ‘‘The Control of Educational Purpose through 
School Supervision,’’ Proceedings of the National Education Asso- 
ciation, Vol. 55, 1917, pp. 187-94. 

7W. W. Charters, The Teaching of Ideals (University of Chicago 
Press, 1925), pp. 34-35. 


TRAINING AND PERSONALITY dol 


ness, or some other quality which he thinks is of prime impor- 
tance. 

The indefiniteness of analysis is shown also in connection with 
the use of adjectives which are attached to the noun person- 
alttys 6's 

Peaahality is the sum total of all the traits possessed by an 
individual. To describe the personality of an individual com- 
pletely it would be necessary to list all his traits. However, he 
may have some traits developed more fully than others. For in- 
stance he may be strong in accuracy, average in speed, weak in 
unselfishness, strong in ambition, and weak in geniality. When 
all of these traits and others which he may possess have been 
listed and evaluated, we have a picture of his personality. 

Certain necessary personal characteristics of the super- 
visor have been directly mentioned or clearly implied many 
times in the preceding chapters, particularly in the imme-. 
diate preceding discussion. It is obvious that the difficult 
technical processes involved in supervision, necessitating 
for their success the codperation of a group of more or less 
independent individuals and affecting vitally the success or 
failure of many people, cannot be entrusted to anybody and 
everybody. What, specifically, are some of the necessary 
personal attributes of a successful supervisor ? 

Asked to discuss this question before the National Educa- 
tion Society in 1915, Professor Crabtree found that there 
was no literature whatever upon the subject. He wrote to 
prominent educators, therefore, in order to gather data, ask- 
ing them to express their views ‘‘hot off the bat.’’ Among 
the answers was one from Hanus who believed that train- 
ing and experience should be placed ahead of personality, 
but who gave a good summary of the desirable personality.® 


Industry, even temper, ability to see parent’s or teacher’s 
viewpoint, no matter how mistaken, spirit of helpfulness (ex- 
press approval of good work as well as disapproval of defects), 


8 Quoted by J. W. Crabtree, ‘Personality in Supervision,’’ Pro- 
ceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 53, 1915, p. 516, 


552 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


tactfulness. There should be caution against expressing too 
much or too general approval, also caution against being influ- 
enced by the attitude of those praised. The supervisor should 
refrain from using the wrong word but should not be evasive; 
should have the courage and the intention to lead in cooperation, 
but not dominate. 


L. D. Harvey of Stout Institute listed sympathy, honesty, 
eandor, ability to remain unruffled by displays of temper, 
and also to remain unaffected by the attitude of those who 
get praise. 

W. O. Thompson of the Ohio State University listed the 
following: 9 


Genuineness, absence of affectation and the assumption of 
fancied authority. Avoid a patronizing attitude. 

A quick appreciation of merit which involves discernment, in- 
telligence, sympathy, and which lays the foundation for con- 
structive helpfulness. 

The teachable spirit which makes for humility and eliminates 
dogmatism, or offensive aggressiveness. 

The supervisor should be a student of people and methods, 
and have a firm and modest allegiance to principle. 


On the basis of the many and varied opinions gathered, 
Crabtree concluded that: *° 


1. There is as much need of defining a desirable supervisory 
personality as there is for defining a desirable teaching 
personality. 

2. The elements are cheerfulness, kindness, sympathy, agree- 
able manners, true teaching spirit genuine interest in the 
welfare of teachers. 

3. These and other elements in personality can be improved. 

4. Training schools should give attention to the cultivation of 
the desirable teaching and the supervisory personalities. 

5. Supervisors should be improved in service. 





9 Ibid., p. 517. 
10 Ibid., p. 518. 


TRAINING AND PERSONALITY 503 


A list of the desirable qualities in supervisors as reported 
by teachers is found in a questionnaire report by Miss 
Bird.** Several classes were asked to list instances of su- 
pervisory helpfulness, of personal excellence, ete., and the 
answers were tabulated. The questions asked admitted of 
both technical points and personal attributes, as the list 
will show. The number opposite each quality is the ‘per- 
centage of answers mentioning it: 


TEACHERS’ ESTIMATES OF SUPERVISORS 


Frequency, 

Qualities per cent 
RSC Mesa OF SUNITA Van oo Sistas ssoileees «0.9 eet e es shane 55 
Systematic individual supervision ................ 48 
LICE al Debec  f oleh LS ais - CRA IB PRUNE 16 
ROCIO RU III Verret ite co.cc) o:2/ «chs «1555s Maranon 10 
erareastONO eKNOW TOG %Gue ati. ss ss oa hols mcetres wee 10 
CG IN CN CSc maa hes igs ots paps ss os sla c's soe e's ot alot 8 
PeeraiNifaaTl  COMMUNIL Ve. st. oes). «seh a estenee ean 8 
Pree eTOCTI LA ieGte ee lots soo a tla'els Soe sa siete o 
Sere ERERO RACER Te tte siete cs o's 5's oe ee ecole nek 5 


Other requisites were flexibility of requirement, sincerity, good 
breeding, attractive personality, ability to discipline, good health, 
ability to make a speech, fairness, lofty ideals, the ability to 
smile, promptness, reliability, poise, enthusiasm, moral and physi- 
cal cleanliness, foresight, a democratic spirit, resourcefulness, 
courage, optimism, and a sense of humor (the latter with only 
two votes). 


It seems curious that many of the qualities listed but a 
few times were not more prominent. A possible explana- 
tion is that many who noted codperation, executive ability, 
etc., used these terms as blanket categories covering many 
other elements that should have been listed more specif- 
leally. 


11G@. E. Bird, ‘‘ Teachers’ Estimates of Supervisors,’’ School and 
Society, Vol. 5, June 16, 1917, p. 270. 


554 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Little discussion was given to supervisory personality 
after these early studies until very recently. The promi- 
nent place in current thought occupied by supervision has 
again focused attention upon the matter. Several inter- 
esting and valuable summaries of supervisory types are to 
be found in the literature. 

Taylor’s list of desirable traits of the supervisor. This 
writer presents a decidedly humorous but none the less 
clever and penetrating discussion of supervisory traits and 
types.1?, His inspiration came from a humorous squib con- 
tributed to Infe by one ‘‘E. L.,’’ entitled ‘‘ Jottings of an 
Apple-Eater.’’ | 


Realism. Cross-section of an apple, kitchen table view, show- 
ing the worm. 

Romanticism. Same worm-eaten apple hanging from a limb 
of tree in fragrant orchard. 

Impressionism. Apple sauce. 

Cynicism. Crab apples. 

Destructive Criticism. Worm shown heroic size; apple ignored. 

Interpretative Criticism. Worm earefully cut out, showing 
sound portion of the apple. 


Doubtless the original writer was hitting off the foibles of 
current artistic and literary technique and eriticism. Tay- 
lor draws the parallel for supervisory criticism. 

1. Realism. The realist ‘‘sees things as they are.’’ 
Everything that is the matter with teaching comes in for 
attention. The realist supervisor is frank, prides himself 
upon it, mistakenly calling it honesty and courage. Says 
Taylor: 


Supervisors, like teachers, must sometimes be blind, and dear, 
and dumb. It is not wise to see too much, or hear everything, 


12 Joseph Taylor, ‘‘Some Desirable Traits of the Supervisor,’’ 
Educational Administration and Supervision, Vol. 9, Jan., 1923, 


pp. 1-8. 


TRAINING AND PERSONALITY 555 


or tell everything we know. Efficiency is a potent word; and 
scientific measurement in school administration is a valuable 
function when properly correlated with ideal elements. Science 
is wholly impersonal; but teaching is highly personal. 


2. Romanticism. We cannot improve upon the original 
discussion : 


This is the worm-eaten apple hanging from the limb of a tree 
in a fragrant orchard. Romantic criticism throws a glamor of 
moonlight over the unlovely facts of life, and makes actual de- 
fects appear as objects of beauty and delight. The supervisor 
with a romantic disposition is blind to defects and calls poor 
work good, deceiving himself as well as the teacher under his 
charge. People endowed with this cast of mind accept good 
intentions for accomplishment, amiability for ability, talent in 
drawing, music or dancing, for skill in the three R’s. They 
promote children on length of service, or the color of their eyes, 
or the social standing of the parents. Scholarship is despised 
and the course of study is an impertinence. 


Supervision is indebted to Taylor for a pithy description 
of one of the most incompetent individuals in education. 
Any one who has ever been a principal or superintendent 
recognizes the muddle-headed, incoherent individual who 
does not believe in planning, organization, or specificity. 
These things are not necessary, for is not everything going 
“‘just splendidly’’? No matter how poorly a teacher may 
be doing, criticism is not to be thought of because, ‘‘she is 
such a dear girl, and is trying so hard.’’ The realist may 
be unpopular, may discourage many, may even spoil some 
good material but he will correct some defects. The ro- 
manticist never will. - 

3. Impressionism, ‘Again we may quote Taylor: 


This is apple sauce. Everything is seen and represented in 
mass without distinct form or feature. Such criticism is too 
vague to be of any value. A certain principal told me that her 
superintendent would walk leisurely through her school, joke 
with the teacher, say “Good morning” to the children, and at the 


556 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


end of an hour would know everything that was going on in her 
school. 

Apple sauce! No superintendent can do anything of the 
kind. If that is his method of inspection he has merely invented 
an easy substitute for work. 


Here we have again our old friend the ‘‘atmospheric”’ 
supervisor mentioned in Chapter V. Atmospheric or im- 
pressionistic matters little. He does not know how to ana- 
lyze into workable elements the mass impressions he gets 
and is quite unable to improve teaching because he does not 
recognize the elements of good and bad procedure. 

4. Cynicism. Supervisors of this type Taylor designates 
as crab apples. They hold their positions by presenting a 
mellow and sweet disposition to their superiors, reserving 
the cynical thrusts for their defenseless teachers. Traits 
of personality lacking are: sense of humor, geniality, kind- 
ness, sympathy, charity, amiability, generosity. Those pres- 
ent are: ill nature, venom, rancor, intolerance, inhumanity, 
cruelty, ete. 

5. Destructive criticism. Here we have the worm shown 
in heroie size and the apple ignored. This type of super- 
visor is closely akin, of course, to the realist. He differs in 
that he magnifies faults, the realist may honestly try to 
avoid this. The destructive critic nags, fault-finds, and 
tears to pieces what is wrong. The realist has the saving 
grace in that he often presents better methods in place of 
those which he so relentlessly criticizes. This type is known 
to all of us, and the traits could be listed easily. 

6. Interpretative criticism. Here we have the sound por- 
tion of the apple with the worm cut out. This type of 
supervisor sees errors to be sure, but kindly and tactfully 
suggests methods of overcoming them—removes the worm. 
At the same time, he sees what is being done well and 
praises that—attention to the sound portion of the apple. 
This supervisor is friendly, sympathetic, discriminating in 


TRAINING AND PERSONALITY 557 


criticism, helpful with errors and generous in praise of good 
work. The list of traits obviously could be lengthened. 

Waegner’s list of misconceived supervisory types. Omit- 
ting for the moment a discussion of a desirable type of 
supervisor, Wagner presents ten types which possess dis- 
tinetly undesirable traits. This negative method is justifi- 
able when the positive inferences may be clearly drawn. 
In the following brief summary of Wagner’s discussion the 
positive and negative personality traits are clearly discern- 
ible and lists will not be repeated nor elaborated. His un- 
desirable types: 7° | 


1. Detective 6. Machine 
2. Humming Bird 7. Bully 

3. Sphinx 8. Zero 

4. Fish wife 9. Flywheel 
5. Nettle 10. Composite 


Two others, say, Wagner, might be added, the ‘‘grouch’’ 
and the ‘‘gas-bag,’’ but they are doubtless included under 
one or other of those already described. 

1. The detective. One would think that ‘‘gum-shoe’’ 
supervision should have died out by this time, but it is 
constantly reported by teachers. The supervisor or prin- 
cipal who slips into cloakrooms to listen unobserved to the 
lesson, who stands in the hallway corners to observe what 
he can, who looks through keyholes, over transoms (actual 
cases reported), is obviously lacking in those traits of per- 
sonality which will win the respect and confidence of his 
teachers. One principal was recently reported as ordering 
the glass half of the classroom doors covered with white 
curtains—in order to beautify the halls. The teachers soon 
discovered, or rather the pupils discovered, that the new 


130, A. Wagner, ‘‘Some Types of Misconceived Supervision of 
Instruction,’’ American School Board Journal, Vol. 65, May, 1923, 
pp. 37-38. 


558 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


curtains were effective screens for ‘‘listening stations’’ util- 
ized by the principal. 

2. The humming bird. This supervisor pops in and pops 
out! She has little time for visiting and less ability for 
planning what she has. What traits this supervisor lacks 
or possesses, no one knows. She is never with us long 
enough to find out. As Wagner says, the teachers cannot 
cooperate with this type of supervision—there is nothing to 
cooperate with. 

3. The sphinx is recognized by all of us who have ever 
taught. One of the commonest complaints from teachers 
about supervision relates to the lack of any report after- 
wards from the supervisor regarding the visit. The 
sphinx supervisor feels that he is being impartial and self- 
controlled in failing to show either pleasure or displeasure 
while in the room. He lacks kindliness, understanding, 
sympathy, ete. | 

4. The fish wife. Most Americans are not familiar by 
first-hand contact with the noisy, brawling, often scolding 
fish wife of the Kuropean coastwise villages. We know her 
well enough from song and story, however, to recognize the 
applicability of the term here. This supervisor crashes— 
literally—into a room. Regardless of what is going on, he 
shouts a hearty greeting to all concerned, jokes the teacher, 
teases a pupil or two, creates a disturbance, and leaves. If 
he is a ‘‘erab apple’’ instead of a ‘‘romanticist,’’? he is 
likely to take the class away and noisily teach it awhile, 
concluding with a volley of questions at the teacher, de- 
signed to show her up. 

5. The netile, as the name indicates, nettles us by petty 
faultfinding, by censure before the class, by asking patient — 
questions about things that cannot be helped and do not 
matter. This type of personality often wears the outer 
appearance of good breeding. There is none of the brawl- 
ing fish wife here. The very tone of voice is low and the 


TRAINING AND PERSONALITY 559 


attitude one of patient forbearance. One such supervisor 
uses with telling effect the low, sad tones indicative of a 
corpse in the next room. Fifteen minutes of this voice ask- 
ing patient well-bred questions about inconsequential details 
will nettle any teacher into impertinence and insubordina- 
tion. 

6. The machine type of supervisory personality is more 
or less rigid, inflexible, and lacking in those traits enabling 
one to see the other fellow’s point of view. ‘This type be- 
lieves that all children in a certain grade and subject should 
be doing the same thing at the same time. ‘They are im- 
patient and display lack of sympathy with the teacher who 
is not on designated chapter and verse at all times. Like 
the detective type, this one would seem to have little place 
in modern education, but is to be found plentifully. 

7. The bully. Here we have the nettle plus conceit and 
aggressiveness. This type of personality is characterized by 
conceit, self-esteem, arrogance, and very often by dishon- 
esty. Bullying and blustering are often an outward cloak 
for inner lack of confidence, or downright knowledge of 
error. 

8. Zero. This type uas no personality traits, hence a 
zero. As Wagner points out the zero in mathematics is 
merely a place-keeper without other value. So the zero 
supervisor, a place-holder. Such traits as they have are 
negative and displayed for the purpose of retaining hold 
upon an office doubtless easy and comparatively lucrative. 

9. Flywheel. In mechanics the flywheel is a useful bal- 
ancing agent but revolves in one place only. The flywheel 
supervisor will doubtless maintain the status quo, keep 
things where they are, but make no progress. He lacks 
aggressiveness, initiative, perhaps self-confidence, ete. 

10. Composite. Obviously most supervisors who are not 
measuring up are composites of the various types briefly 
recounted above. 


560 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


These poor types of supervisors will persist, says Wag- 
ner, as long as supervisors are appointed without regard 
to previous training and present fitness. Until the neces- 
sity for special training is recognized and until the super- 
visory job is analyzed into elements capable of being trans- 
lated into personality elements, we will doubtless have with 
us the official lacking in some of the most fundamental 
necessary traits. 

Kelley’s supervisory types. This writer characterizes 
four unsuccessful supervisory types and one successful. 
The personality traits in each ease will be clear to the reader 
from the foregoing discussions, quotation here being con- 
fined to the listing of types: ** 


. The Swivel-Chair Artist 

. The Inspectorial Type 

. The Inquisitorial Type 

. The Dictatorial Type 

. The Cooperative Open-Minded Type 


OorPrwnre 


A brief summary of desirable traits. A careful consid- 
eration of the many and varied duties of the supervisor, of 
the intricate problems confronting him, together with a 
realization of the importance of his whole activity will fur- 
nish us with a check upon the different lists of personal 
qualifications. The big, dominating aim of supervision is 
the improvement of teaching. The codperation of teachers 
is essential. The gaining of this codperation calls for kind- 
ness, sympathy, and tact. Confidence is engendered by 
reliability and sincerity... Loyalty to subordinates is just as 
necessary and important as loyalty from subordinates. My 
own most unpleasant experiences in teaching were with a 
school official who constantly harped upon loyalty but who 
meant only subservience from those under him. He was 


14G. K. Kelley, ‘‘Types of Supervisors I Have Known,’’ Thee 
School Board Journal, Vol. 68, June, 1924, p. 54. 


TRAINING AND PERSONALITY 561 


deliberately and constantly disloyal to his teachers and 
co-workers. 

The supervisor must originate and carry through proj- 
ects in teacher-training, in the betterment of instruction, in 
the organization of curriculums, ete. This calls for initia- 
tive, self-reliance, industry, and perseverance. These quali- 
ties must be accompanied by enthusiasm and optimism. 

The codperation of the teachers must not stop with pas- 
Sive acquiescence, but must be motivated and inspired to 
contribute and actively further the joint purposes of super- 
visors and teachers. This inspiration comes from a feeling 
of confidence engendered by a supervisor’s loyalty and sin- 
cerity, combined with energy, enthusiasm, and optimism. 

There will be inevitable explosions, or at least friction 
and disagreements. These situations the supervisor must 
meet with tact, adaptability, resource, and infinite patience. 
A sense of humor, so scantily honored in the study quoted 
above, is a vital and necessary part of a supervisor’s 
make-up. | | 

These terms are, of course, general. They need further 
analysis. However, the list as it is is serviceable and can 
be used. 

Will it ever be possible to find an ideal combination of all 
these qualities in one person? Some people think not. An 
experienced teacher in one of my supervision classes, who 
was violently and temperamentally opposed to supervision 
-in any manner, shape, or form, after listening to a discus- 
sion of the necessary elements of personality, surprised the 
whole class by agreeing and stating that we should insist on 
these elements and appoint no other type of individual. 
Our surprise was, however, short-lived. The ideal person- 
ality struck this teacher as did the whole theory of super- 
vision—impossible. To hold out for the ideally constituted 
supervisor was to prohibit any appointments, which struck 
this individual as a good way to dispose of supervision! 


562 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


The case is by no means so hopeless, however. There are 
many excellent supervisors possessing in differing degrees 
the desirable personal qualifications, and there is much ex- 
cellent supervisory material in the ranks of the teachers. 
Can personality be developed? Many of these qualities 
depend in large measure, of course, on native endowment, 
but every experience testifies to the fact that many of them 
ean be cultivated in marked degree. Says Crabtree on this » 
pomt: 


A young man fresh from college had a most obtrusive, ego- 
tistic personality. He insisted that every teacher do just as he 
said whether they liked it or not. His teachers, the board, and 
the community soon opposed him. Pupils began to hate him. 
He was square, and began to study the situation. He finally 
took counsel of leaders among his pupils, teachers, and board 
members. He became convinced that he must be a guide instead 
of a tyrant. He began to let the teachers help him plan policies; 
he invited help and suggestions from the board; he even con- 
sulted strong community leaders; he called leading pupils into 
council. He learned that others like to help and that all to- 
gether were far better than one unaided. His whole attitude has 
changed and he is a wholly different man in strength and effec- 
tiveness. He thinks it is because he grasped the social ideal. 


Charters says on this point: 1° 


The statement is frequently made that a person is born with a 
personality, and this cannot be changed. The evidence for this 
position is easily collected. Some people are “innately” neat 
and systematic; others are “born” courteous; still others are 
“natively” retiring and timid. So far as we are able to see, 
eases such as these, collected by casual observation, constitute 
the sole basis for the statement that people are born with certain 
traits and the development of personality follows heredity. On — 
the other hand, we have seen the lazy boy of fifteen break down 


15 Crabtree, op. cit., p. 519. 
16 W."W. Charters, The Teaching of Ideals (University of Chicago 
Press, 1925), pp. 13-14. 





TRAINING AND PERSONALITY 563 
q 

at the age of forty because of overwork. We have seen the selfish 
lightheaded girl of seventeen an unselfish and serious-minded 
mother at the age of thirty. Quite frequently the undependable 
school girl becomes a model of dependability in the office. A 
waster of eighteen becomes a miser at sixty. The boy enters 
college a crude freshman and when he graduates he is an easy- 
mannered, well-poised young man. The impatient son becomes 
a patient father. These are cases which show that personality 
changes. 

It is not true that personality cannot be developed. Changes 
in personality are in the natural order of events. It is the usual 
thing for traits to change with changing conditions. They are 
modified, and they are even eradicated by the influences of en- 
vironment. Indeed, one of the chief anxieties of teachers and 
parents lies in the fact that high ideals may be lowered by the 
hard conditions of adult life. 

The heart of the question is not, “Can personality be devel- 
oped?” It is rather, “Can we hasten the development of per- 
sonality, and by attentive effort do in a short time what might 
naturally be accomplished during a period of many years?” 
Luther: Burbank was able by intensive culture to develop species 
of plants in ten years that it would take Nature five hundred 
years to produce. So in the development of personality it is 
possible, by intensively cultivating traits under intelligent direc- 
tion, to give a young man in six months that forcefulness which 
it might ordinarily take him ten years to develop. So also in 
three months it is possible to change a person’s attitude from 
unfriendly criticism to friendliness to a degree which might never 
be attained without guidance. Ambition can be intensively de- 
veloped. Accuracy can be improved by attention. Initiative 
ean be developed, and resourcefulness is one of the easiest traits 
to develop. 

But there is a limit to the degree to which traits can be de- 
veloped. An insensitive boor can never become as tactful as an 
intelligent gentleman. An easy-going temperament can probably 
never achieve vaulting ambition; an impulsive man may not be 
able to develop the good judgment of Socrates. Fortunately 
the limits set by Nature are wide, and within these limits much 
can be accomplished. 


Whatever the difficulties in the way; and however re- 
mote the possibility of securing the ideal individual. we 


564 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 

- 
must endeavor to obtain as supervisors open-minded men 
and women, possessed of broad human sympathy, infinite 
tact and patience, and a sense of humor and perspective. 
A high idealism, stiffened by the courage of conviction, 
must underlie their efforts. 

The terms used in this section to describe personal quali- 
ties are often objected to because they are not objective and 
are not defined in the same terms for every one. Such an 
objection is often a quibble that merely delays discussion 
and contributes nothing. Such discussions, though they do 
use terms that are somewhat nonscientific, are of real value, 
and interested students will arrive at an approximation of 
the terms that are usable by all. However, that does not 
excuse us from the effort to make these terms more exact 
and definite. 

An admirable summary of supervisory training and per- 
sonality is to be found in an address by Coffman: 37 


Progress in supervision should be made through the careful 
and scientific study of the problems. Mere opinion must give 
way to facts secured through trustworthy investigations. Ex- 
periments conducted under controlled conditions must supersede 
progress made by blind chance. Codperative work upon definite 
problems must displace advances made by individual workers. 
Sensitiveness to problems related to the teaching of the different 
subjects rather than interests in mechanical devices must charac- 
terize supervision. ! 

All of which means that we must have, and the future will see, 
a new type of supervisor. He must recognize that first and 
above all the improvement of instruction must begin with him- 
self. A recognition of his personal responsibility will keep him 
alive intellectually. Himself the embodiment of modern spe- 
cialized scholarship, it will be possible for him to advance the 
intellectual capacity of his faculty year after year. Appreciat- 
ing that teachers cannot be left to sink or swim, he will seek to 


17L. D. Coffman, ‘‘The Control of Educational Progress through 
School Supervision,’’ Proceedings of the National Education <Asso- 
ciation, Vol. 55, 1917, pp. 187-94. 


TRAINING AND PERSONALITY 565 


improve them, not by elimination, but by education. Enjoying 
the qualities of leadership, he will secure spontaneous cooperation 
of his teachers and not be a fearless lord in the midst of those 
who fear, sending out orders and commands from the central 
office. 

But where are we to find such men and women? In the pres- 
ent supervisory and teaching staffs. Where are they to receive 
this training? In the public schools themselves and in higher 
institutions. Schools for testing forms of organization and 
methods of instruction should be provided in every large school 
system. And higher institutions should recognize the peculiar 
mission they have to perform in the training of supervisors. 
Everywhere vast sums are being appropriated for research in 
scientific fields. Colleges of medicine have their hospitals, dental 
schools their clinics, and colleges of agriculture their experi- 
mental stations. Every one believes that most of the money ex- 
pended in these institutions is wisely expended. We have great 
respect for the botanist who tries to secure reliable data con- 
cerning the radiation of leaves, or for the zodlogist who tries 
to find whether any relation exists between the length of the in- 
testines of a fish and the depth of water at which it lives, and 
yet neither of these offers an opportunity for social service that 
will compare with that of discovering the most economical method 
of learning to read the elements which should constitute our com- 
mon culture, or the education that superlatively gifted children 
should receive. If the supervisors are to merit and to dignify 
the offices they hold, if they are to be imbued with a professional 
spirit and in turn to know how to communicate it to their 
teachers, then there must be experimental stations and agencies 
established in which they may make investigations and conduct 
experiments. 

This movement has already begun. Research departments are 
being established in city and state departments of public educa- 
tion, normal schools and universities are taking the initial steps 
to provide a more elaborate training for supervisors. 

Modern science must focus its attention upon the supervisory 
problems. It must be given the opportunity to penetrate emo- 
tional prejudices and to strike at the shackles of tradition. It, 
and it alone, can develop a critical type of mind which, after 
all, is the best guarantee of progress. Instead of prejudice, con- 
tention, selfishness and opinion, science must determine our biases 
and attack our sources of error. Studies and investigations ex- 


566 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


tending over broad areas and over long periods of time must 
be conducted. What we need is an impersonal, unfrightened 
approach to these important problems. The only way to escape 
from the unguided, drifting manner in which we have been 
attempting to make progress in the past is through the applica- 
tion of science to the concrete problems of supervision. Teachers 
and supervisors sent out from our higher institutions should be 
dominated with that spirit of humility, but in possession of those 
instruments which characterize the faithful workers in other 
fields. My plea, therefore, is that achievements hereafter be 
made in the supervisory field by those who are controlled by 
passionate ideals, by those who are conscious of, sensitive to, and 
inspired by the real problems in their field; by those who are 
willing to devote themselves to the study of those things which 
relate to the improvement of instruction. Instead of being the 
victims of blind phantasy and aimless drifting, instead of being 
mere mechanicians; let us have more and better trained workers 
upon the scientific level. 


Another valuable discussion from which much guidance 
for the training of supervisors can be gained is Bobbitt’s 
‘Mistakes Often Made by Principals.’’ *8 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


1. Ayer, Adelaide, “Training County Superintendents and 
Rural Supervisors in Service,” Hducational Administra- 
tion and Supervision, Vol. 7, Sept., 1921, pp. 335-43. Val- 
uable outline. (Also in Proceedings of the National Edu- 
cation Association, Vol. 59, 1921, pp. 539-44.) 

2. Birp, Grace E., “Teachers’ Estimates of Supervisors,” School 
and Society, Vol. 5, June 16, 1917, pp. 717-720. 

3. Bopgirt, Franklin, “Mistakes Often Made by Principals,” 
two parts, Hlementary School Journal, Vol. 20, Jan. and 
Feb., 1920, pp. 337-46; 419-34. Excellent summary. 

4, CHARTERS, W. W., “The Inadequacy of Principles of Teach- 
ing,” Educational Administration and Supervision, Vol. 4, 


18 Franklin Bobbitt, ‘‘ Mistakes Often Made by Principals,’’ two 
parts, Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, Jan., 1920, pp. 337-46; 
also Feb., 1920, pp. 419-34, 


10. 
Tt 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 


16. 


LG 


TRAINING AND PERSONALITY 567, 


April, 1918, pp. 215-21. Also, “The Administration of 
Methods of Teaching” (part 2 of foregoing) ibid., pp. 
237-44. 


. CHarTERS, W. W., The Teaching of Ideals (University of 


Chicago Press, 1925). Contains very practical and ana- 
lytical discussion of personality and its development. 


. Corrman, L. D., “The Control of Educational Progress 


through School Supervision,’ Proceedings of the National 
Edueation Association, Vol. 55, 1917, pp. 187-94. An in- 
fluential early statement. 


. CRABTREE, J. W., “Personality in Supervision,” Proceedings 


of the National Education Association, Vol. 53, 1915, pp. 
516-19. Contains symposium from prominent educators. 


. Dakin, W. S., “Training Supervisors for Rural Schools,” 


Proceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 
60, 1922, pp. 1154-78. Good. 


. Dorsry, Susan M., “Supervision as Liberating the Teacher,” 


Proceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 
55, 1917, pp. 239-43. Good on supervisory attitude. 

FARRINGTON, F. E., “The Equipment of a School Principal,” 
Educational Review, Vol. 35, Jan., 1908, pp. 41-51. Gen- 
eral qualifications. 

Gray, W. S., “Methods of Improving the Technique of 
Teaching,” Hlementary School Journal, Vol. 20, Dee., 1919, 
pp. 263-75. 

FREEMAN, F. N., “Tests of Personality Traits,’ School Re- 
view, Vol. 33, Feb., 1925, pp. 95-106. Good analysis of 
Downey Will-Temperament Test. 

Hitu, Sallie, “Defects in Supervision and Constructive Sug- 
gestions Thereon,” Proceedings of the National Education 
Association, Vol. 57, 1919, pp. 506-09. 

Hosic, J. F., “The Democratization of Supervision,” School 
and Society, Vol. 11, March 20, 1920, pp. 331-36. Excel- 
lent analysis. 

Kewiry, G. K., “Types of Supervisors I Have Known,” 
School Board Journal, Vol. 68, June, 1924, pp. 54 ff. Brief 
but very good discussion of five supervisory types. 

Kirk, John P., “Preparation of Music Supervisors: Shall 
They Have a Balanced College Education?” Proceedings of 
the National Education Association, Vol. 59, 1921, pp. 
509-13. General, offers no specific suggestions. 

Morrison, J. Cayce, “Analysis of the Principalship as a 


568 


18. 


19. 


20. 


Pol 


22. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Basis for the Preparation of Elementary School Princi- 
pals,” Proceedings of the National Education Association, 
Vol. 63, pp. 453-61. Excellent analysis. 

Peters, C. C., “Improvement of Facilities for Professional 
Training of Superintendents,” Educational Administration 
and Supervision, Vol. 6, Sept., 1920, pp. 337-45. 

Sroors, R. O., “Leadership in Education; in the Principal 
and Supervisor,” Proceedings of the National Education 
Association, Vol. 56, 1918, pp. 623-26. Brief references 
to personality. 

TAYLOR, Joseph, “Some Desirable Traits of the Supervisor,” 
Educational Administration and Supervision, Vol. 9, Jan., 
1923, pp. 1-8. Clever and stimulating discussion. 

Trumper, May, “How to Get the Most out of a Short Course 
for County Supervisors through a Research Department,” 
Proceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 62, 
1924, pp. 685-89. 

Waaner, C. A., “Some Types of Misconceived Supervision of 
Instruction,” School Board Journal; Vol. 67, May, 1923. 
pp. 37-38. Good summary. 


CHAPTER XY, 
THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 


In an earlier chapter the general characteristics of the 
scientific method, the steps in its application to teaching 
problems, and a number of typical scientific studies were 
described. It will be the purpose of this chapter to discuss 
the application of the scientific method to the problems of 
supervision. Much scientific study of teaching and of 
supervision will doubtless be done by bureaus of research. 
But supervisors themselves should be alert to the possi- 
bilities of studying the problems of supervision and, teach- 
ing scientificallv. On this point Judd says:? 


Every supervisor in the United States has an obligation other 
than the obligation of supervising his schools. The obligation 
of every supervisor in an American school is to contribute some- 
thing to the science of supervision. That means that supervisors 
must get some records together that will make it possible to 
evaluate what has been accomplished by way of motivating edu- 
cational procedure through supervision. The business of super- 
visors in this country is to make supervision scientific, not teach- 
ing alone. We are doing fairly well by children and teachers, 
and we give them a lot of advice. The part of the school job 
that is done with relatively less system than is desirable is that 
part which is undertaken by supervisors, and it will never be done 
perfectly until supervisors begin to be their own critics. 


The first obstacle in any attempt to summarize scientific 


1Charles H. Judd, ‘‘Scientific Organization of Supervision,’’ 
American Educational Digest, Vol. 45, Dec., 1925, pp. 156-57. 


569 


570 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


studies of supervision is the fact that, as yet, there are 
really very few studies to summarize. The authors have 
been handicapped at various points in the preparation of 
this volume because of the lack of scientific evidence. There 
are many opinions but few facts. For instance, what is the 
status of supervision to-day, that is, the age, training, ex- 
perience, tenure, salary, etc., of supervisors? No one 
knows. What do supervisors do? Only one or two tentative 
investigations have been made. What are the character- 
istics of the successful supervisor? What is the relative 
effectiveness of different supervisory devices? What are 
the characteristics of a good interview? What standards of 
performance should the supervisors expect of teachers? 
What is the attitude of teachers toward supervision? What 
is the cost of supervision? The list could be extended in- 
definitely. These and similar problems are of the type 
about which more exact information is very much needed. 
Too many of the current discussions are nothing more or 
less than a summarization of experience, or a statement of 
personal opinion. Many of them are valuable and sound as 
far as they go, but they are no substitute for objective 
evidence. 

Studies of the value of supervision. Supervision has 
from time to time suffered severe attacks from both teachers 
and laymen. Its value as a part of the educational pro- 
gram has been seriously questioned in times past. It is fit- 
ting therefore, that the pioneer scientific study in this field 
should have been one to determine in precise terms the 
value of work done by supervisors. This first study and 
others which followed all supply clear-cut evidence showing 
that supervision is of material value. 

The value of supervision in geography. In September, 
1918, a study was initiated in the Detroit schools hay- 
ing for its purpose a comparison of the instructional 
conditions in certain groups of supervised and unsu- 


ad 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 071 


pervised schools.2. The experiment was carefully controlled 
in its procedure, and the results were interpreted with due 
regard for contributing factors. On September 19 of 
that year, geography tests were given to approximately 
25,000 pupils in grades four, five, and six in the Detroit 
public schools. On the basis of these tests the schools were 
divided into four equal groups: an unsupervised group, 
an inspected group, a group supervised by schools, and a 
eroup supervised by classes. Schools in group one were not 
visited by the supervisor ; schools in group two were visited 
but on the old inspectional basis; for schools of the third 
group the supervisor received information of the general 
standing of the school and did his best to make both teacher 
and principal understand what was expected; in the fourth 
eroup, the supervisor used such detailed information as 
could be furnished by the Department of Research and 
centered his attention upon teachers whose classes were 
below the general level of attainment in geography. The 
work was continued for six weeks. The groups were then 
retested. The original scores were retabulated in order to 
maintain the original equality of the groups which had been 
disturbed by changes in pupil population. Comparisons 
were then made and various interpretations of the results 
presented. One of the safest conclusions is based upon the 
relation of actual gain made by pupils to the possible gain. 


In the unsupervised group, the teachers succeeded in making 
49.5 per cent of the desired gain. Supervision by inspection 
raised the figure to 54 per cent, supervision by schools to 68 
per cent, and by classes to 69.5 per cent. That is, visit of the 
supervisor under the conditions of Group IV resulted in an in- 
crease of achievement of 40 per cent.® 


28. A. Courtis, ‘‘ Measuring the Effects of Supervision,’’ School 
and Society, Vol. 10, July 19, 1919, pp. 61-70. (Credit for the study 
should go jointly to S. A. Courtis, Burton A. Barns, and Paul C. 
Packer. ) 

3 Ibid., p. 68. 


572 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 
Another comparison was made in terms of point scores: 


The children in the unsupervised group were able to locate 
correctly 28 states on the map in the initial test and 43 states 
in the final test, a gain of 15 states in the median score of the 
eroup. 

In the group supervised by schools the gain was 19 states. 
That is, as measured by the change in median scores of the 
group, adequate supervision increased the effects of teaching 30 
per cent. In terms of the per cent the actual gain was of the 
desired gain, the results are Grouv 1, 70 per cent, Group III, 
83 per cent. 


A clear picture of the changes induced by supervision 
ean be gained by inspecting the changes in distribution. 


In Group I the distributions for the initial and final tests 
overlap to the extent of 71 per cent. That is, in the final test 
the net result is that 29 per cent of the children have higher 
scores than they did in the beginning. For Group III the figures 
become 46 per cent. Put in different words, the statement would 
be, out of every hundred children in schools without supervision, 
29 were changed by the teaching. The effect of supervision was 
to raise this number to 46, a gain of 17 children. Surely an 
agency which affects the work of teachers to such an extent, that 
without change in the teachers, the time, the equipment, or the 
size of the class, more than half again as many children are 
benefited by the teaching, is an important agency.® 


The value of supervision in penmanship. An investiga- 
tion quite similar to the one in geography just reported was 
carried out in handwriting by Miss Lena Shaw, supervisor 
of penmanship in Detroit, Michigan. A total of 30,529 
pupils was used, distributed through grades three to eight. 
A test was given at the beginning of the semester and the 


schools divided into four equal groups as in the geography 


study just reported. The same procedure was followed, one 


4Ibid., p. 68. 
5 Ibid., p. 69. 


; 
’ 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 573 


group being unvisited, the second inspected only, the third 
supervised by schools, and the fourth group supervised by 
classes. The work was carried on for a whole semester, 
when a final test was given, the original scores retabulated, 
and conclusions drawn. The tables presenting the results 
by half grades are too long to reproduce here, totals for the 
groups only being given: ° 








Group I | Group II | Group III | Group IV 


Retabulation..........} :6,935 6,943 6,969 6,931 
PE MECOLGs © ayeiiars ss oe 8,460 8,778 9,020 8,819 
Per cent of possible gain. 30.1 36.2 40.7 37.2 


The conclusions drawn were: 


1. Supervision does pay since the schools which were not 
visited made only 30.1 per cent of possible gain, while Groups 
II, II, and IV, made 36.2, 40.7, and 37.2 per cent respectively. 
2. The best form of supervision is that in which the emphasis 
is placed where it is most needed. 


The second conclusion is not wholly justified by the evi- 
dence presented since the group supervised by schools 
scored higher than that supervised by classes. Very little 
difference was shown between the two groups supervised 
by schools and classes in the geography study. Further 
analysis and study of this point should prove enlightening. 

The value of supervision in rural schools. This study by 
Pittman of the value of supervision in rural schools was an 
important contribution to the scientific study of supervision 
both in its methods and in its results. The problem was 
defined as follows: 7 





6 Lena Shaw, unpublished materials. 
7M. 8. Pittman, The Value cf School Superviston (Warwick and 
York, 1921). 


574 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


The Problem. Does the supervision of schools pay? If so, to 

what extent, in what ways, and under what conditions? 
* * * * * * 

With a view to giving at least partial answers to these im- 
portant educational questions, the investigation discussed in the 
following pages was undertaken. Since it was necessary to limit 
the scope of the investigation, it was restricted to the following 
question : ; 

What is the effect of supervision upon the work of rural schools 
when supervision is done according to the Zone plan? 

* * * * * * 

The Zone Plan Defined. A plan of supervision in which the 
supervisor divides his entire supervisory district into territorial 
units, each of which serves as the territorial limits for one week 
of supervisory effort has been designated by the writer as the 
zone plan. The purpose back of such territorial organization is 
to provide for systematic supervision of classroom instruction, 
for convenient, effective, and democratic teachers’ meetings, and 
for the development of a community consciousness on the part 
of rural communities with a view to inspiring and facilitating 
more effective social, educational, and commercial action. Such 
a plan was used in this experiment. 


Pittman used the equivalent groups method, dividing his 
zone into two halves. The standings of the children in thir- 
teen school functions were determined at the outset, and the 
two halves of the zone equated. Care was taken to see that 
the two halves were as nearly equal as possible in popula- 
tion, wealth, and certain other outside factors. The con- 
trol half of the zone received no supervision, whereas the 
experimental half received intensive supervision for seven 
months. Both groups were then tested and the differences 
in improvement between the two groups were attributed 
to supervision. An abbreviated statement of the conclu- 
sions is as follows: 


1. Results. The results of supervision in the experiment here- 
after described were positive in the particulars and to the 
extent stated below. 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 575 


(a) Children in the supervised schools, when measured by 
equated differences and by percentages of progress 
of the experimental group measured in terms of the 
progess of the control group, advanced approximately 
194 per cent as far during the seven months in the 
particular functions under investigation as did the 
children with whom they were compared. 

(b) Upon this basis and assuming the social value of this 
type of educational material, the value of the ser- 
vice of one supervisor, who would produce such a 
difference in the total results of the school work for 
forty-five schoolrooms similar to those supervised, 
would be $45,102.15 per school year for that service 
alone. (See original report for figures upon which 
this is based.) 

(c) The teachers under supervision did, approximately, four 
times as much professional reading as they themselves 
had done during the previous year and four times as 
much as the group of teachers with whom they were 
compared during the year of the experiment. 

(@) The average attendance, measured in terms of total 
enrollment, was 76 per cent for the year in the super- 
vised schools as against 70.7 per cent in the unsuper- 
vised schools. 

(e) In the schools under supervision all of the children in 
the grades from three to eight inclusive, made excel- 
lent progress with greater gains usually in the lower 
grades. In the schools not having supervision, the 
children in the grades below the seventh did not make 
the progress which might have been expected if the 
progress of the seventh and eighth grades was taken 
as a standard by which to compare them. 

(f) Supervision served to keep in school children who were 
in the seventh and eighth grades. Of the children who 
entered those grades of the supervised schools, 92 
per cent continued in school to the end of the year. 
In the unsupervised schools, only 69 per cent com- 
pleted the school year. 

(g) Supervision promoted the social life of the community. 


2. Supplementary related conclusions. 


(a) While supervision gave positive results in subjects 


576 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION: 


supervised, it did not interfere with the progress of 
subjects not especially supervised. 

(6) In order to get the best results from supervision, the 
attention of all concerned must be centered upon the 
particular phases which it is desired to improve. 


Studies of the administrative organization of supervi- 
sion. There is a marked interest in the problems of organ- 
ization and several important studies have appeared re- 
cently. Among the best are Ayer’s*® investigation of the 
duties and relationships of special supervisors in school 
systems in cities of 100,000 and over in population, and 
Harris’® study of supervisory relationships in cities of 
50,000 and over in population. These two studies have 
been summarized in some detail in Chapter II of this volume. 
Reference was also made in Chapter I to Barr’s*° study of 
the activities of the Detroit supervisory organization. An- 
other excellent study similar to those of Ayer and Harris 
has been made by Edna Kieth * for the supervisors of the 
state of Illinois. It is as yet unpublished. Space will not 
permit an adequate summary of these important investiga- 
tions here. A separate volume of this series of texts will 
present the whole matter of supervisory organization in 
detail.?? 

Quantitative standards for the improvement of teaching. 
During recent years there have been numerous attempts 
to develop check lists to aid supervisors in the study of 


8 Fred C. Ayer, ‘‘The Rise of Special Supervision and Depart- 
mental Organization,’’ Studies in Administrative Research, Seattle 
Public Schools, 1925, Bulletin No. 1. 

9R. W. Harris, ‘‘The Organization of Supervision,’’ Master’s 
Thesis, 1925, on file University of Wisconsin. 

10 A. §. Barr, ‘‘An Analysis of the Activities of Instructional 
Supervisors, a Study of the Detroit Supervisory Organization,’’ 
Bulletin, Bureau of Research, University of Wisconsin, 1926. 

11 Edna Kieth, Joliet, Illinois, unpublished materials. . 

12 Fred C. Ayer and A. 8. Barr, The Administrative Organization 
of Supervision. In preparation (D. Appleton & Co.). 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 577 


teaching. For the most part these lists have been sub- 
jective in character. More recent attempts have been in 
the direction of ‘‘standard items to observe,’’ derived much 
as standard tests are derived, and tested for validity, re- 
liability, and objectivity. An extensive study of this nature 
was carried on by Barr ?* and certain supervisors in Detroit, 
resulting in the development of a large number of check 
lists. The lists are the results of a careful analysis of class- 
room teaching and while they vary in the degree of ob- 
jectivity attained they do show the possibilities of such 
materials. The materials have not been standardized but 
constitute the raw material out of which standardized lists 
may be constructed. 

The need for such standards has grown out of three quite 
diverse situations in the field of supervision. In the first 
place, the ideas, practices, and scientific discoveries in edu- 
cation are scattered through hundreds of articles, studies, 
and books. Frequently the findings are in disagreement, 
being contradicted by previous or subsequent findings. The 
situation is such in most fields of education that the or- 
dinary teacher is bewildered, knows not what to believe, 
and reverts to personal opinion, predilections, and preju- 
dices. If the teacher succeeds in extricating herself from 
this mass of conflicting evidence, she is confronted by a 
superabundance of unorganized material. What actually 
happens is that teachers, principals, supervisors read 
new books as they come from the press, are greatly stimu- 
lated, and put into practice the best of their ideas. As 
new publications arrive, they read them, are greatly stimu- 
lated, and again put into practice the best of their ideas, 
but unfortunately forget the suggestions of first book. As 
a result teachers, principals and supervisors are continually 


13 A, S. Barr, and others, Elementary School Standards for the 
Improvement of Teaching (Ann Arbor, Mich., Edwards Brothers, 
1924). sien 


578 |. THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


substituting one set of educational ideas for another, instead 
of adding to the educational structure already in course of 
building. There is, therefore, need for a concise, one, two, 
three statement of what we know in education. 

A very helpful piece of work along this line was done 
by the Committee on Economy of Time in Education 
and reported in the Lighteenth Yearbook, of the National 
Society for the Study of Education Part II. It was the 
intention of this committee to ‘‘gather all available data, 
published and unpublished, digest them critically, and base 
upon them summary statements applicable to classroom 
work.’’ Such lists of summary statements were prepared 
for several of the elementary subjects. The following ex- 
tract illustrates some of the principles of method listed: 


PRINCIPLES OF METHOD IN TEACHING WRITING 


1. The writer should face the desk squarely. 

2. Both forearms should rest on the desk for approximately 
three quarters of their length. 

3. The paper should be directly in front of the writer. 

4. The paper should be tilted to the left (or to the right in 
the case of the left-handed writer) until the lower edge 
makes an angle of about 30 degrees with the edge of the 
desk, and the writing. 

5. The forearm should form a right angle with the baseline 
of the letters. 

6. The hand should rest on the third and fourth fingers, not 
on the side. 

7. The forefinger should rest upon the penholder below the 
thumb (nearer the pen point than the thumb). 

8. The penholder should be grasped loosely. 


The list continues similarly through many more rules. 
The illustration deals with rather simple and formal ma- 
terial, but the same attack is possible in other subjects 
as will be illustrated later on. 

In the second place, the need for standards has grown out 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 579 


of the tendency to make the elementary-school principal 
responsible for the instruction in his building. As early 
as 1903 Blodgett +* insisted that the principal be made 
responsible for the instructional conditions in his building. 


I would make the position of school principal a place of 
definite responsibility, and I would magnify and dignify that 
position and office. I would have him feel the responsibility of 
the place he occupies. I would do my work with his school 
through him. I would have everything pertaining to his school 
pass through his hands both to and from. Questions and com- 
plaints whether of parents, teacher, or pupils, should be answered, 
adjusted, and settled either by him or in his presence. I would 
have all parties, however, and particularly the principal, under- 
stand that an appeal from all decisions was always in order, 
provided the principal be first served with notice of the 
appeal. 


Historically, supervision came as the last of the princi- 
pal’s responsibilities. The principal, already burdened with 
clerical and administrative matters, needs assistance if he is 
to assume complete responsibility for his building. Fur- 
thermore in making the principal responsible for instruc- 
tion, it must not be forgotten that the principal is by posi- 
tion a generalist and not a specialist. He cannot be ex- 
pected to follow critically the literature of the twelve or 
fifteen subjects which comprise the elementary-school cur- 
riculum and distinguish niceties of thought known to ex- 
perts. He can, however, when furnished with suitable 
standards and when trained in their use, apply the find- 
ings of specialists to the improvement of instruction. Prac- 
tically, if the principal is to administer his school and is to 
supervise instruction, he must be furnished with readymade 
standards for judging and improving the quality of class- 
room instruction. 


14 A, B. Blodgett, ‘‘The Most Effective Use of a Superintendent’s 
Time,’’ Proceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 40, 
1903, pp. 224-226. 


580 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION: 


In the third place, the need for standards has grown out 
of the fact that present standards for judging the quality 
of teaching are highly subjective. No two supervisors, even 
when observing the same teacher teach, can agree upon the 
quality of teaching observed. First there is little agree- 
ment upon what constitutes good teaching. Secondly, 
present standards, because of their subjective character, 
reveal extreme variations in the judgments of observers 
about what was actually seen. By actual trial fifteen prin- 
cipals observing the same recitation gave as many different 
opinions of the teaching as there were principals observing. 

The development of these standards. The effort to de- 
velop objective standards for improving teaching raises two 
questions: 


1. What are the characteristics of good teaching? These may 
be derived from: 
(a) Scientific studies of teaching. 
(bv) Analyses of the activities of good and poor teachers. 
(c) The pooling of expert opinion. 
2. What are the definite, sha a observable evidences of 
these characteristics? 


The first step, then, is to list the principles of method. 
These principles may be derived from scientific studies of 
teaching, from the analysis of the activities of superior, 
teachers, or from the pooling of expert opinion. The scien- 
tifie evidence on which the derived principles will be based 
will be in part direct and in part indirect. 


The evidence is direct when the efficiency of alternative methods 
of learning is compared, either statistically or experimentally; 
the evidence is indirect when the rule is derived by applying a 
general principle which has been scientifically verified. Of the 
statistical and experimental methods, the experimental is the more 
direct. It consists in the comparison of the performance of two 
groups of learners whose method of procedure differs only in 
certain definitely limited and known respects. The statistical 
method usually bases its conclusions on the comparison of two 





THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY -OF SUPERVISION 581 


groups of learners whose procedure differs in an indefinite num. 
ber of ways. The validity of the (following) answers to the 
practical problems of handwriting is of different degrees ac- 
cording to the degree of directness of the evidence, the experi- 
mental method being the most valid, and the indirect applica- 
tion of general principles the least.° 


A sample from the list of principles governing handwrit- 
ing is given a few pages back. Many excellent illustrations 
of similar lists are to be found in the reference given, there- 
fore no further space will be devoted to them here. 

Having once arrived at some agreement as to general 
principles of method in the several fields of instruction, the 
second step is to reduce these principles to definite, objec- 
tive, observable, standards. This can be done by analyzing 
the recitation into teacher and pupil activities. This proc- 
ess was fully discussed in Chapter V of this volume, there- 
fore two brief illustrations only will be included here. The 
first is an extract from a list of ztems to observe for sewing :1° 


. Has each girl her work? 

. Does each girl wear a thimble? 

. Does each girl take a good working position? 

. Do the girls use straight needles? 

. Are pins put in at right angles to the edge? 

. Is the thread well fastened at the beginning and end of the 
seam ? 

7. Is the work free from knots? 

8. Are the rows of stitches or seams straight? 


QnPwDoH 


Sewing, specialized and technical as it is, when thus ana- 
lyzed, is objective and relatively easy to observe. Has each 
girl her work? Hither she has or she has not. That is, this 
item is objective, understandable, and observable. Or if 
we care to deal with the class quantitatively, twenty-five 





15 Highteenth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of 
Education, Part II (Public School Publishing Co., 1919), p. 11. 

16 A. S. Barr and others, Elementary School Standards for the Im- 
provement of Teaching (Ann Arbor, Mich., Edward Bros.), pp. 43-47, 


582 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


have and five have not. Does each girl wear a thimble? 
Either she does or she does not. Is the work free from 
knots? Yes or no. And so on through the several items to 
observe. Having agreed that such items constitute indices of 
good instruction in sewing, the judgments of different ob- 
servers are comparable, uniform, and understandable. 

The illustration of items to observe in sewing deals 
largely with the skill aspect of a school subject. An ex- 
ample from items to observe in history illustrates the or- 
ganization for a content subject. The list is in terms of 
teacher activity: ?” 


1. Did the teacher discover the reading rates of individual 
pupils? 

2. Did the teacher discover the pupil’s ability to understand 
historical materials? 

3. Did the teacher diagnose pupil difficulties in the compre- 
hension of historical materials? 

4. Did the teacher put content in difficult technical historical 
terms by adding greater detail? 

5. Did the teacher discover the pupil’s power of immediate 
memory for the different classes of historical materials? 

6. Did the teacher discover the pupil’s power of oral repro- 
duction of different classes of historical materials? 

7. Did the teacher discover the pupil’s permanent retentive 
power for the different classes of historical materials? 

8. Did the teacher direct the pupil to discover whether or not 
the facts were true? 

9. Did the teacher direct the pupil to discover whether the 
facts were important, and why? 

10. Did the teacher direct the pupil to see the facts in their 
chronological order? 

11. Did the teacher lead the pupil to see the causal relations 
of the events? 

12. Did the teacher lead the pupil to make comparisons and 
contrasts? 


17 A. 8. Barr, ‘‘Study Recitation in History,’’ Historical Outlook, 
Jan., 1921, pp. 27-28. The list is an early one, largely subjective 
and general. It should be supplemented by much more detailed 
analysis. 


OE a 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 583 


These brief illustrations and the others in Chapter V 
illustrate the analysis of teaching into definite, observable 
items of pupil or teacher activity. There can be no agree- 
ment as to the quality of instruction and consequently no 
scientific criticism of teaching so long as we use general, ill- 
defined terms such as, sense of justice, tact, force, person- 
ality, enthusiasm, adaptability, ete. The general terms in 
which principles of teaching are usually formulated are 
equally unsatisfactory. We must go back of these general 
terms to the evidences upon which they are based. Back 
of each is a series of definite, objective, observable teach- 
ing acts. Such procedure is not confined to school activi- 
ties but is found generally in everyday life where it is 
fully as necessary to get the observable facts. For in- 
stance, discussions of sportsmanship may observe the same 
principle. Sportsmanship, however desirable, is not ob- 
servable. What we do observe is the exchange of greet- 
ings by opposing captains, the slugging of one player by 
another, the assistance of an injured opponent to his feet, 
ete. From these observable, objective data, conclusions are 
drawn as to the sportsmanship of the teams. So it is with 
teaching, we must base our judgments upon specific ob- 
servable items. 

Obviously, if we follow this method of developing 
standards for studying teaching we shall have to sacrifice 
some of the picturesqueness of general educational treatises 
for less ambiguous terms. The atmospheric supervisor will 
have to give way to the analytic. Scientific thought gen- 
erally implies the use of a clearly defined terminology. How- 
ever slow the process of listing the established findings for 
the several fields of instruction, and the corresponding items 
of observation, the results in the long run should be thought- 
saving, labor-saving, and time-saving. It should simplify 
educational thought by substituting simple, carefully de- 
fined principles for untold numbers of miscellaneous opin- 


584 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


ions. It should materially increase agreement among 
judges of teaching. 

A suggested procedure. Such items-to-observe or check- 
lists as are available at present are unstandardized. They 
are, as a matter of fact, only the raw materials out of which 
standardized observation lists may come. Much experi- 
mentation, analysis, and research is needed. A prosecan 
which should prove valuable follows: 


1. List the principles of method in teaching as derived from 
scientific investigations. | 

2. Through an analysis of teaching, translate the principles of 
method into specific, observable teaching acts. These are 
the items to observe. (Pupil activities can be used as 
well.) 

3. Submit these lists to competent judges for additions and 
evaluation. Tabulate the findings. 

4. Note the frequency of occurrence of each activity among 
Superior teachers. Tabulate the frequency. 

5. Select from the total list of items, those items (twenty or 
twenty-five) appearing first in tabulations 3 and 4 above. 

6. Rank the items in the order of their importance. Use tabu- 
lations above. 

7. Caleulate the correlation of each item with some objective 
measure’ of teaching ability. 

8. Organize the abbreviated lists into convenient form for 
supervisory: use. 


Analytical studies of teaching. A few first attempts 
have been made to place the analysis of teaching on a more 
objective basis. The results, crude as they are, give promise 
of important developments. The techniques used in earry- 
ing on the studies are themselves of interest and value to 
the supervisor who wishes to carry on similar research. 

A quantitative analysis of the activities of good and poor 
teachers. In an effort to arrive at a better analysis of 
teaching, Rosenow studied the activities of good and poor 
teachers. His object was to find a list of things done by 
good teachers, never or seldom done by poor teachers, and 





THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 585 


activities done by poor teachers, never or seldom done by 
good teachers. He describes his procedure as follows: 18 


The main problem of this study is to discover differences be- 
tween good and poor teaching procedures. The purpose of the 
stuay can be stated thus: ‘What do good teachers do that poor 
teachers never or seldom do, and what do poor teachers do that 
good teachers never or seldom do?” From this study and others 
of a similar nature, it is hoped that educators can devise teacher 
judging charts which, when used by the supervisor or principal, 
will make teacher rating more objective and, when placed in the 
hands of the teacher, will serve as an aid to the betterment of 
teaching. 

The first step in making this investigation was to obtain a list 
of teacher activities. This list was secured by having thirty-five 
individuals, trained in: observation and supervision, visit ten 
picked teachers in the Madison schools and note all the observable 
activities of teaching. From these 350 observations, the list be- 
low was compiled. The frequency, time, and quality columns 

were added. (See list below.) 
- This list was then mimeographed and used as a check list in 
the study of teaching. Fifty schools were visited. Before visit- 
ing the school, the permission of the superintendent and of the 
principal to visit was secured. The teacher was also asked if she 
had any objections to the visit. 

In selecting teachers to be visited, the principal of the school 
was asked to check the two best and two poorest teachers in a 
list prepared in advance. The visitors did not know which 
teachers were best and which poorest, as the principal was asked 
not to comment on the teachers selected. Hach teacher was 
then visited one recitation period or more, the number of visits 
depending on the schedule and time the visitor had to make these 
visits. If a whole day was spent in one school, the visitor ar- 
ranged to spend at least a part of three periods with each teacher. 
At the end of the school day, the teachers were rated, and the 


- 18K. E. Rosenow, ‘‘A Study of the Activities of Good and Poor 
Teachers,’’? Master’s Thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1925. 

See also A. S. Barr, ‘‘A Quantitative Analysis of the Activities 
of Good and Poor Teachers,’’ Bulletin, Bureau of Research, Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin, 1927. A continuation of the investigation ini- 
tiated by Rosenow. 


086 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


principal was asked to check this rating. This was done to verify 
the judgment of the observer. 

During these visits a record was kept of everything the teacher 
did. By close observation of each activity, the time spent, the 
frequency, and the quality of the activity were recorded. Besides 
the general estimates of the teacher’s ability, an estimate was 
made of the quality of work done during the recitation observed. 

After visiting all the teachers, an activity list was compiled, 
one for the good teachers, and another for the poor teachers. The 
activities of the good teachers were then compared with the 
activities of the poor teachers. The results of the compilation are 
given in the table on page 587. (Space will not permit a repro- 
duction of the discussion of the results.) 


The investigation reported here is obviously a pre- 
liminary one. The number of cases studied was very lim- 
ited. The method of the research is probably of more in- 
terest than its conclusions, though some of the latter are 
suggestive. The whole study indicates a method of attack 
which should be widely used in the future. 

Morrison’s attention charts. A very valuable tool for 
the scientific study of supervision has been developed by 
Morrison. The problem, as Morrison sees it, is one of de- 
veloping some way of measuring the aggregate pupil min- 
utes of attention in a given class period. This is done 
through the Morrison Individual and Group Attention 
Charts. The procedure, as outlined by the author, is given 
below: *° 


The observer takes a position near the front of the room so 
placed that he can look into the faces of all the pupils and at 
the same time be himself out of the natural line of their vision. 
It is essential that the class shall not to any considerable degree 
be curious about the observer to the extent of directing attention 
upon him and his activities. To this end, it may be necessary 
to experiment in several different meetings of the same group or 


19 H. C. Morrison, The Teaching Technique of the Secondary School 
(Ann Arbor, Mich., Edwards Bros., 1924), Part II, pp. 11-13; 18-20. 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 587 


A CoMPILATION OF THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY OF THE ACTIVITIES OF 
Goop AND Poor TEACHERS 





QUALITY 

FREQUENCY (ABCDE) 
OF TIME SPENT (Omit WHEN 
OccURRENCE INCONSISTENT) 


Teacher Activity 


Good | Poor | Good | Poor | Good | Poor 
Teach-|Teach-| Teach-} Teach-| Teach-| Teach- 





ers ers ers ers ers ers 
1. Answers pupils’ questions 
2. Arranges conferences: 
(a) between teacher and pupil 
(6) for self-directed groups of 
pupils 
3. Asks questions: 
(a) fact questions 92 408 52 245 B+ C 
(b) judgment questions 187 6 82 3 A B-— 
(c) interpretation and appre- 
ciation questions 61 12 27 ‘< A C 
Answers questions: 
(d) of group (Pe uly 45 14 A B 
(e) of individuals tf 152 6 125 B D 
Refers back to pupil 124 3 73 2 A D 
4. Assigns lesson: 
(a) at beginning of class period 9 24 il 60 A C 
(b) during class period 9 11 79 29 A C 
(c) at end of class period 1 3 10 8 B+ Cc 
5. Assists pupils: 
(a) at pupil’s desk 215 87 174 42 A B- 
(b) at teacher’s desk 19 15 D 
(c) at blackboard 9 1 6 Ah? 2 li A B- 
(d) unclassified 3 4 Tee ae D 
6. Attends to physical conditions in 
room (heat, ventilation, 
lights, etc.) 12 8 3 ilo 1 } ; 
7. Collects or distributes material: 
(a) personally 1 38 1 40 Cc D 
(0) with pupil assistance 13 6 14 6 A A 


[ease ee ee © sees ie lelele Sls © hs @ 4) Wis 0 e's 6 2 6a he es ee we fee 6s oa he ae 66 8 efe bie 6 e.8 fae ea 6 eh Ss 6, 6 8 Oe 


8. Commends or praises pupil or 
pupils’ work 55 1 23 2 iA A 


Sia Seer Sieh Bib 6s) WES 6 oe) h 6 Oe 6 6 ee te! he & O.0.8 CELE © a9 .0 Spo Kk 8 Behe oe ee 6 hse 6 ¢ 28 8 6 e 6 lose. 6 





588 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


A CoMPILATION OF THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY OF THE ACTIVITIES OF 
Goop AND Poor TEACHERS—Continued 


O pS S18 OBL ee @%eDe-'6, Wise "ee. (wy ae! 0.xe Fel lecel See. ele) ete 


@ O10) 6 6 0,0 @ 0 BS 6 B41 S616 O61 '6 8) 'e 8) C66 ce ds Rm 


Oe © Opa 6 6 we ais 0 Whee & ote, 0 36) ele 6 6 Olea Qe © a8 


@ 01 406) 0. 6 uo ew 6 0 hice Ole © oye, ce, te mit B84 ee 6 ce ® 


o we) Be Dats “e (ols) lo iw ler erie! s @ Spe Je 6 16) eo 60s me @ 4 '@ Si lege 


eo iatel eee dS eS) 6) Ome tate eee are, adie le beye 6) hoe © 


oi meee © 0) 8 baie so fs wie Solve, eet ine te) Sa, DS ee ee 


a pe ele ie SS 9 3:3 © bee o ete es ene al ES Ape @ 269) © © fe 


a ow. 08 2 a os 6 6. 0Le wee Ce wee 6 eta Ghee WSS 


. Performs 


Teacher Activity 


. Criticizes pupils’ work: 


(a) constructively 


. Demonstrates proper procedure 


various 
activities 


x ny pupils: 


) on present work 


6,096 6,0 HOS! Sls ee wisi us.6) (006, ora 6 aleve Ble,» 
fob) 6 oh 06 6) .¥ ete 6 Ke ere. 6 8. ww ofa we) me 


wie) «: (ens: 6) Gis 6) e) @Noite feo 10 ene 6): \61e (6) lee) © 


. Encourages self-appraisal: 


(a) by individuals 


Tes pS 6p O8. M10, 0 6.\p (6118) 8 10, oO ® Kee e) Cube! 6! ele 


. Interrupts pupil’s discussion: 


(a) to make suggestion 


Cueto Dp ae ep 6 Ow ee 8 2 2 6 te oa ee wie 


aw O16 6 oe Bre ¢) 620. p66 sO) bee Che S&B 6l a Ore 





Site We ie! <) 0 eile (0, ee, 6 euele Ssh» sie \s 


disciplinary 




















F QUALITY 
REQUENCY (ABCDE) 
OF Time SPENT | (Omrr WHEN) 
OccURRENCE INCONSISTENT 
Good | Poor | Good | Poor | Good | Poor 
Teach-| Teach-|Teach-| Teach-|Teach-|Teach- 
ers ers ers ers ers ers 
128 1 aD 1 A A 
47 0 44 D 
9 10 A _ 
53 44 = D 
3 22 A D 
3 D 
Lo D 
16 D 
31 21 A - 
20 n i A _- 
18 ye 35 41 A B 
2 28 4 41 B D 
36 _ D 
37 10 A B-— 
1 9 1 6 C D 
54 35 _ D 
oe : 17 D 
125 15 46 5 A A 


A 0 & 4 0 6 Mele) ni he 





THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 589 


A CoMPILATION OF THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY OF THE ACTIVITIES OF 
Goop AND Poor TEACHERS—Continued 





QUALITY 
FREQUENCY (ABCDE) 
OF Time SPENT | (Omrr WHEN 
OccURRENCE INCONSISTENT) 


Teacher Activity 


Good | Poor | Good | Poor | Good | Poor 
Teach-|Teach-|Teach-|Teach-|Teach-|Teach- 


ers ers ers ers ers ers 
21. Laughs: * 

(a) at pupils eae 4 ok 2 o — 

(b) with pupils 4 2 ~ _ 
22. Leads discussion 39 25 A B 
23. Leans on furniture 13 8 _ 
24. Lectures to pupils 4 16 9 44 A C 
25. Makes announcements 33 4 16 4 — _ 
26. Reads to class: 

(a) to supply information 1 2 2 4 A C 

(b) for purposes of illustration 1 2 3 11 B C-— 
27. Reproves or censures pupils 47 30 ~ D 
28. Reviews previous related material 2 4 ~ — 
29. Scowls or frowns 48 _ _ 
30. Sends pupils to blackboard: 

(a) individually nh 10 gon ae - _ 

(b) by groups 2 Th Bull aisha 8 ay * 

(c) the class Lah fore tl BS Focaet et ot ier 
31. Sits: 

(a) at desk 4) 580 | Lest | (causal enn Satan 

(0) with or among pupils Toe lassen, bigensee bm Srl Ree 

(c) in rear of room 2 A ote ace) Py RR Re | Ea 
32. Smiles: 

(a) habitually LO yo sies eee ssa Ia oe eee 

(b) appreciatively 42 22 — ~ 


Sat wie Ste eT eLeh sie ieee «6 (6.8 Ble 6.0 0.0 6.0 6 6 6 6 68.5 ) Oo e0%e 0 68 0 6.46 0 fb © sO 6 0) e180 ee Pah e e108 6.0 O16 8 8 66 6 


5909 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


A CoMPILATION OF THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY OF THE ACTIVITIES OF 
Goop AND Poor TEAacHERS—Conlinued 


QUALITY 

_ FREQUENCY (ABCDE) 
OF Timp SPENT (Omit WHEN 
OccURRENCE INCONSISTENT) 


Teacher Activity 


Good | Poor | Good | Poor | Good | Poor 
Teach-| Teach-| Teach-| Teach-| Teach-|Teach- 





ers ers ers ers ers ers 

33. Spends time: TT Toe, =e al bo ea 

(a) dictating outlines, etd. | 2, nn Lect eecee ee ee 
J. tue AO) copying material on board) 4 ic.) wen ul: nse) een te 
34. Stands: 

ia) Yat esi ee eee lee ati etree EIA Baie or Lk 

ib) sin front of rooms iver) ee 13) te ceee  e 

(o)\inirpar of room yi Ht ay ay ee) ae = ee 
AUG) oxic ase ROG Oise ay i Si A feet das AO BR) mee ye 
35. Takes roll: 

(a) by seating chart’ ot |, 19.) 2h | 16) 22 ee 

Ab) by reading mames VW Gio. 11s oe ied vetlel bir 10:}\ 2 le 
ween AO) Dy pumbers eT te ee ee 
Wry Nid) y nnelassi het ise ier eer hie Let ors ea eh 1 |) ae 
36. Uses illustrative material: 

(a) "maps, globes,\atlas |) ot alg io aneroar ba Paarl ered bose 

RD) POD IOCta YTS talk ie Cee 10 FL te eee Ai ie 

ip) ‘charte | 1) 9 peg ae eee 19 8 [en eee eee ae eT 

(2) drawings octet le A ee 

Ke) (Blicles fy eb ee a fo Ser D2 eee ae 

Uy pichures 48 52. bore eae ee 215 se) ee ea se fe oat 
7, ee (g)"" motion! plofures 64) Un" (0 and Bee 
37. Uses textbook: 

(a) asks questions from text | el PA MAAR Fed Ue 

(b) reads and comments on 

hh texthook.y D0 sie ee Aa Re Td Deceden tel” Bch ce 

(c) uses illustrations, graphs, 

5 COC PN ne PN Pt MRC ELI Pec 

(d) follows textbook closely 1 41 A Cc 


CD CG PCa DH HC e er Ke Ree eee + ce cla Oo prmee a o fj atete's es ¢)a we ie'e « 1s @ os sok 6.4 Ole «oh gine ee 2 eee 





THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 591 


A ComPILATION OF THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY OF THE ACTIVITIES OF 
Goop AND Poor TEACHERS—Continued 







QUALITY 
FREQUENCY (ABCDE) 
OF Timp SPENT | (Omir WHEN 
OccURRENCE INCONSISTENT) 
Teacher Activity palates Sai eR SIAN) soe esha = palin ae Sl a ei ES 
Good | Poor | Good | Poor | Good | Poor 
Teach-| Teach- | Teach-| Teach-| Teach-| Teach- 





ers ers ers ers ers ers 
38. Visits or converses with observer 1 ae 1 D ~ 
39. Walks about room: 
(a) aimlessly Bret 3 — = 
(6) with purpose 11 3 os - 
40. Work during class period at: 
(a) reading and_ correcting 
pupils’ work Med 3 pai 10 ~ D 
(b) preparing materials for 
class use See 3 ae 3 _ D 
(c) records, reports, etc. 1 1 ~~ D 
(d) unclassified 3 6 _ D 
41. Writes on board: Ye 
(a) before class-hour 34 14 A 
(5) during recitation 20 8 il 12 A D 
(c) outlines 28 12 A A— 
(d) explanatory material 37 10 A A— 
(e) tests, exercises, etc. 7 _ D 


BEA aera 6 ne Pe eee olin © 16s) ele ele! 6) e eee a16se Ne 6 6 | ¢ 6 6 6 6. 0 |e 4 ©. 5 @ © F016 6 O76 6 fait w 6 2 [@' | © eo 4 © (60 |.0):8\ 8) 6 ele 





until the pupils become accustomed to the presence of the ob- 
server. More often, the observer will need only to wait until 
the pupil’s first curiosity has been satisfied and their minds have 
resumed normal activity. In this case, he can usually get a fairly 
accurate score for the latter part of the period. The technique 
of observation is primarily for the observer to make himself as 
inconspicuous as possible. If the class evidently does not be- 
come accustomed to the presence of the observer, the record 
should be thrown out. 

An appropriate situation having been established, the observer 
notes minute by minute the number of pupils in attention. It is 
convenient for this purpose to have a simple record card so 


592 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


fastened to a table that it can be laid on the lap, or on the arm 
of a chair, in such a manner that the observer can record with his 
right hand while holding a watch in the left. A sample scoring 
is shown below: 


Number, in class... . sic deleeilow ele es gle's ace es cle « isle heen 30 

Pupils in Pupils in 

Attention Attention 

Period begins..10:00 . 6 L020 16 

OL 6 Py fy: 30 

02 6 28: eee. 

03 6 29 aU 

04. 6 30 res 

Ue 6 ERE ey se | 

06. 6 32 vente 

OTs: 7 ae fer ees alt) 

08 . 9 34. 13 

09 reG 35 8 

10 3) eats 36 6 

11 i eats 37 6 

12 eo 38 6 

13 eo 39 6 

14 4 Pte} 40 6 

15 Byte} 41 6 

16 28 42 7 

thy) 24 43 8 

18 20 44 6 

19 x iPAl) 45 6 

21 ni PAL 46 6 

22 20 47 mets 1 

23 aah, 48 30 

yA aeons: 49 30 

PATE 17 — 
Period Hndse PP OU ean CAs, en wea eg 10: 50 
Number OL minutes seer See SUS Oe eee 50 
Possible pupil-minutes attention.............. 1,500 

Actual pupil-minutes attention.......... cece cece 821 
Percentage *ofattention . oo. Sees. 2) es ee 55 .(—) 


The minute-by-minute score is of little use when it is desired 
either to study the influence of different devices upon class atten- 
tion or to help the teacher to build up a satisfactory control 





THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 593 


technique. For such purposes, it is desirable to break up the class 


period into phases, note the character of each phase 


and the 


fluctuations of attention from phase to phase. The method is 
illustrated by the reports of two actual observations listed below. 


I. Mathematics (last 30 minutes of a 50-minute period) 


10 Op 5/ 4’ 2’ 
28 30 a0e 24 a0 30 


30-—______—__—————equals 98 % 
I V 


LOL TV 


Analysis by Phases 
I. Supervised Study 
Inattention caused by whispering 
II. Explanation by instructor 
III. Problem-solving 
IV. Discussion 
7 pupils asked questions 
_. 2 pupils made suggestions 
V. Explanation of problem by pupil 


Computation 
Number of pupils—30 


Phase I—Pupils attentive, 28. Time elapsed, 10 minutes 


Lic or 0 Ws OR are 280 pupil-minutes attention 
co) NE Sat | Epo a 270 pupil-minutes attention 
ei 0G Cs Cs ara 150 pupil-minutes attention 
EV OU 4 ic aca es 120 pupil-minutes attention 
WV UO 5 ais 3k 60 pupil-minutes attention 

Total pupil-minutes atten- 

ELC d I oe A a ae Oe a 880 
Total possible pupil-minutes attention, 30 X 30... 900 
Percentage -of attentions ./5)5 208 eOeNe eta 98% 
II. Social Science 
tS i Aol Eanes bay (oie 14 Ve Abs et 
15°50 20 238 15°:23°) 23 0 7M VAR AD 
23 $$ —__+—_—___—_ 88 % 

POT sl bes. V: Veavie VIL) VIEL TARRACEEACLE 


Analysis by Phases 
I. Announcement 
II. Passing out test papers 


594 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


III. Further announcements and settling down to busi- 
ness 
IV. Work on tests 
V. Belated pupil enters 
VI. Work resumed 
VII. Papers exchanged, graded and handed in 
VIII. More test papers distributed 
IX. Work on papers. Pupil leaves 
X. Papers exchanged, graded and handed in. An- 
other set distributed and announcement made 
XI. Consultation and work on papers 


Computation 
Total Number of Pupils: 
23 for 7 minutes 
24 for 13 minutes 
23 for 30 minutes 


Phase 1—Pupils attentive, 15. Time elapsed, 1 minute 


1D Xe east. 15 pupil-minutes attention 

V5 Lie pone ss 0 pupil-minutes attention 
in LL 20 amen Sots), 20 pupil-minutes attention 
PO RLV =m DOS Mebeiahs «wae 69 pupil-minutes attention 
VL EX (el veei tc 15 pupil-minutes attention 
Oo MIR 20 Seek a ats 161 pupil-minutes attention 
OVI —-20 ewe eee sg 92 pupil-minutes attention 
SSN LUO SAE es 3 a 11 pupil-minutes attention 
Heriot 9. Cen al 322 pupil-minutes attention 
‘ X—20 ®& 5....... 105 pupil-minutes attention 
XI 20 220 pupil-minutes attention 

Total pupil-minutes atten- 
HOT Hess oes  eeeeianeeies 1,019 

Total possible pupil-min- 
utes attention ......... 1,163 

Percentage of attention, 88% 
23 X 7=161 
Ae, eal ome 


23 X 30 = 690 
Percentage of attention, 88% 


Brueckner’s time-activity analysis. Another type of in- 
vestigation meant to make supervision objective rather than 





THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 595 


subjective is the time-activity analysis. Brueckner de- 
seribes the device as used by himself as follows: 


In the Minneapolis schools, a supervisory technique is being 
developed which is objective and which aids the teacher to analyze 
critically the methods she is using in teaching. This method may 
be called a time-activity analysis. It involves a study of the 
various types of activity that can take place during a lesson in 
a certain subject and of the amount of time devoted to each type 
of work. A self-diagnostic sheet for a given subject is discussed 
by the principal with the teacher and its purpose explained. 

In the sheet used in analyzing the activities in reading in the 
primary grades provision is made for fourteen general types of 
work, and space is left for any others that may take place. The 
list of activities is based on a study of the reading work usually 
done in the primary grades. In the vertical columns provided 
for the days of the school week the teacher records the amount of 
time spent each day on each type of activity. In the last vertical 
column the teacher places the total amount of time devoted to 
each activity during the week. At the foot of the table the 
teacher records the total amount of time for each day. This 
serves as a check on her daily apportionment of time. 

At present it is not known just how much time should be 
given to each of the activities during the week. A principal may 
see excellent work of one type being done by a teacher. Under 
usual conditions, the principal is not able to spend an adequate 
amount of time with a teacher on several succeeding days to 
evaluate the work done each day. An objective time analysis 
such as is afforded by the method here suggested enables a prin- 
cipal to study the class work for a period of time from one point 
of view. This analysis makes it possible to discuss with a teacher 
the record of work which she has kept herself and raises it above 
the plane of possible personal bias. Comparisons of the time 
records of different teachers can be made and discussed at 
teachers’ meetings with most beneficial results. General policies 
regarding the nature of instruction can be determined. Time 
analyses of the methods used by the teachers who are securing 


20 Leo J. Brueckner, ‘‘The Value of a Time Analysis of Classroom 
Activity as a Supervisory Technique,’’ Elementary School Journal, 
Vol. 25, April, 1925, pp. 518-22. 


596 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


the best results may suggest changes that can be made where the 
results are apparently not as satisfactory. 

A conerete demonstration of the value of this work is avealed 
by the data in Table I, which is a summary of the average re- 
sults found in a time-activity analysis of reading made by the 
teachers in Grades I to IV im seven Minneapolis schools for one 
week, 


TABLE I.—AvVERAGE NuMBER OF MiInutTES A WEEK DEVOTED TO 
Various Reapina Activities IN GRADES I to IV In SEVEN 
MINNEAPOLIS SCHOOLS 


Type or ACTIVITY 


1. Pure phonetic drill to develop independ- 


ence in word recognition............. 63 | 62 19 2 

2. Word drills connected with daily reading 
work for meaning and pronunciation...}| 34 {| 51 | 30 30 

3. Oral reading: books, blackboards, cards, 
CL) ERROR ARG 3 5 gia 9 PE APES Se 112 | 45] 438) 34 

4, Flash-card drills to develop silent-reading 
eric ete ereits eals, ceetees o 10 rekon 28 61 17 |. 32 
5. Directed silent reading. .........:..... 62 | 118 | 83 | 109 
6. Combination of oral and silent reading...| 20 | 35 | 32] 24 
7. Undirected free silent reading.......... 66) | 533/254) 10 
8. Illustration and handwork............. 69 |. 82°} <27 0 as 
Ds MramMatizatlonaet apes a tene ee eters 16 | -°122) n260r ees 

10. Oral language based on reading lesson 
during reading period................ 40°}. 10 | 22.) 23 

11. Written language work based on reading 
lesson during reading period.......... O°) 215 ter SG 

12. Use of arithmetic, geography, etc,, mate- 
rial during reading period............ 12 0 1 16 
13. Attention to needs of individual pupils...| 35 | 36 | 45 | 21 
14. Tests, formal and informal............. 15 5 | 12 8 
16: °Other 22 e024 6 PPP, PR a eae 
Total site asa e ht (ane. A 572 | 485 | 454 | 350 


Reavis’ student-accounting. Reavis has proposed a 
scheme of student-accounting designed to analyze the causes 





THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 597 


affecting the progress of high school pupils.*t Reavis’ own 
description is too long to reproduce here. According to 
Reavis’ plan the principal assumes active responsibility for 
school failures and eliminations. The system of accounting 
for school failures includes: (1) weekly reports upon the 
work of all students whose work has been of such a charac- 
ter as to cause the instructor concern; (2) mid-semester 
reports on problem cases, including a review of weekly re- 
ports, attendance record, personal health history, medical 
examination, study-hall supervision, mentality test, will- 
temperament test, ete.; (3) the semester’s summary of indi- 
vidual records and (4) classification of problem cases into 
types for further study: volitional, intellectual, physical, 
psycho-physical, mental, emotional, unclassified. The pro- 
cedure is representative of a more objective technique de- 
veloped for the use of school principals. 

Barr’s time-chart studies of teaching. A somewhat dif- 
ferent type of time-analysis is the time chart developed by 
Barr.??. Several examples are given in the pages to fol- 
low. The time chart gives a very vivid picture of the kinds 
and amounts of teacher and pupil activity which take 
place during the recitation. The time-chart when treated 
quantitatively furnishes objective evidence upon such items 
as: (1) time spent upon different types of activities: roll 
call, assignment, review, topical reports, blackboard work, 
questions and answers, ete.; (2) the ratio between teacher 
and pupil activity; (3) the amount of individual pupil 
activity; (4) average length of teacher’s comment; (5) 
average length of pupil response; (6) the time between 
teacher’s question and pupil’s response, ete. When supple- 





_ 21 William ©. Reavis, ‘‘Constructive Student-Accounting in the 
Secondary School,’’ Studies in Secondary Education, I, University 
High School, University of Chicago, pp. 20-383. 

22 A. S. Barr, ‘‘A Quantitative Analysis of the Activities of Good 
and Poor Teachers.’’ Bulletin, Bureau of Research, University of 
Wisconsin. (Unpublished.) 


598 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


SECONDS 
0 10 20 30 40 20 60: 


Explanations and 
Statement of problem 


Teacher walks to side of room, offentive, interested 


Teacher interrupts ro 
assist with difficult word, 


Pup! continues repo 
Teacher attertive 


le 13 


Socfalized discussion continued, 
Teacher asks a directipg question. 





) _'C Teacher summarized. the discussion. 
Pupil onswers questions. 


Time CHart I. A SECTION OF A LESSON-HEARING RECITATION IN 
AMERICAN History. 11TH GRADE. 25 PUPILS. 





Explanation: The wavy line running across the chart is the line of 
activity; the vertical lines mark off intervals of time, each line repre- 
senting an interval of 10 seconds. The numbers at the top of the 
chart indicate those intervals in seconds, the numbers at the left 
represent minutes. Each page accounts for 10 minutes of activity. 
T means teacher; C means teacher comment; X, teacher question; 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 599 
SECONDS 


C Colls upon 
onother pupil 


MINUTES 


4H 3H 12 - 
Questions Bolte answers, sections of the class /istless 


& 1 
% H 4H 6H 
Questions and onswers, affention bere 





10 A ne 
\2 Pupil starts a more or less formal report 
TIME CHART II, A SECTION oF A SOCIALIZED RECITATION IN AMERICAN 
History, 11TH GRADE. 25 PUPILS. 


the numerals followed by H, as 3H, 5H, etc., the number of hands 
raised to answer the teacher’s question; the numbers under the short 
vertical lines, the pupil talking (the pupils are designated by num- 
bers); the numbers just above the wavy line at intervals of 10 
seconds, the number of pupils attentive; PQ, pupil question; V, 
volunteer response; VC, volunteer comment; W, wait, or no class 
activity. 


600 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


mented by a stenographie report of the recitation, it fur- 
nishes considerable data for the objective study of teaching. 

Waples’ study of the initial difficulties in high-school 
teaching. A very valuable aid to high-school supervision 
is Waples’ analysis of the difficulties of beginning high- 
school teachers during their first four months of classroom 
teaching. The study is quite detailed and cannot be repro- 
duced here. The following quotation is taken from the 
introduction : 2° 


This manual contains a representative list of difficulties fre- 
quently encountered by teachers of academic subjects in their 
first four months of high-school teaching. Many of these diffi- 
culties are such as tend to disappear shortly after these four 
months. Other difficulties are likely to prove troublesome through- 
out the first two years or until the teacher has become fully 
adjusted to the daily routine of school work. Still others are 
likely to persist through any length of experience unless they 
are definitely isolated and solved before the teacher has formed 
the habit of side-stepping them or has ceased to feel the impor- 
tance of meeting them squarely. 

There are three obvious means of directing this professional 
development. The first is to acquaint the prospective teacher 
with the probable difficulties in advance. The second is to assist 
the beginning teacher to meet each significant difficulty as it 
arises by the right sort of supervision. The third is to furnish 
the teacher in service with a catalogue of difficulties and their 
conventional solution. The teacher may check off those difficulties 
which concern him most and then proceed to improve on the solu- 
tions and apply them to the conditions peculiar to his own classes. 

The analysis of the beginner’s difficulties contained in this 
manual is intended to contribute to each of these three factors 
in professional growth. It should help prospective high-school 
teachers to learn in advance what the beginner’s difficulties are. 
It should help supervisors to show beginning teachers how various 
difficulties are grouped in constellations and thus facilitate the 
selection of key-difficulties on which they should be allowed to 
eoncentrate. The analysis should also be useful to teachers in 


23 Douglas Waples, ‘‘Initial Difficulties in High-school Teaching ’’ 
(University of Chicago, 1925), pp. 1, 2. 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY: OF SUPERVISION 601 


service as 4 means of systematizing their experiences with various 
teaching procedures and their selection of those procedures which 
appear most efficient as applied to particular courses and classes. 


TyPE DIFFICULTIES 


I. Difficulties in the selection, 
emphasis and presentation 


of 


A. 


K. 


Het Ho oO ff 


subject matter: 

Teacher’s Command 
of Subject Matter 

First Lesson of the 
Course or Unit 

Adapting Subject Mat- 
ter to Needs of Class 

Daily Assignments 

Making Subject Mat- 
ter Coherent 

Collateral Reading 

Rules versus Examples 

Supplementing the 
Text 

Emphasizing Material 
Needed by Part of 
Class 

Clearness in Explana- 
tion 

Appreciation of Liter- 
ature 


II. Difficulties in the planning 
and direction of classroom 
learning activities: 


ve Oe8S2 td 


SHAW Qe 


. Planning 
. Questioning 


Treating Pupils’ State- 
ments 


. Encouraging Pupils to 


Criticize 


. Keeping Discussion to 


the Point 


. Oral Reports 


Oral Recitations and 
Exercises 


. Written Exercises 
. Vocabulary Study 
. Interrelating 


of the 


HOA HH 


Work of the Course, 
ete. 


. Study Supervision and 


Direction 


. Adequacy of Explana- 


tion 


. Outlining 
. Drill Work 
. Review 

. Testing 


III. Difficulties in the mechanical 


duties of class-manage- 
ment: 
A. Teacher’s Use of Eng- 


lish 
Learning cir 
Names 


. Beginning “Work 


Promptly 


. Questioning 
. Directing 


Individual 
Work 


. Providing Materials 


When to Make Assign- 
ment 


. Improving Pupils’ 


English 


. Oral Reports 

. Notebooks 

. Preparing Tests 

. Marking Papers 

. Correcting Papers 


IV. Difficulties arising from the 
lack of a codperatwe spirit 
on the part of the class: 


A. 


Establishing a Codper- 
ative Atmosphere 


602 


Col feat eee ee Meee 


. Holding Attention 


. Developing Pupils’ Ini- 


tiative 
. Making Pupils Cour- 
teous 
. Carefulness in Written 
Work 


. Ungrammatical Speech 


. Late Assignments 
. Absences 

. Class Disorder 

. Dishonesty 


V. Difficulties arising from the 
personal characteristics of 
individual pupils: 


A 
B 


C 
D 
E 
F 


. Timidity 
. Overzealous Pupils 


. Bright-Loafers 


. Dull-Loafers 
. Dull and Conscientious 
. Bright and Dishonest 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


G. Uneven Abilities 
H. Clowns and Humorists 


I. 
J. 
K 


Personal Animosities 
Sex References | 
Personal Peculiarities 


VI. Difficulties arising from the 
personal characteristics of 
the teacher: 


A. 


dt + Boab 


Developing Self-Confi- 
dence 


. Assuming Authority 
. Showing Friendliness 
. Righteous Indignation 
. Interest 


Pupils’ 


in 
Personalities 


. Developing a Sense of 


Justice 


. Developing a Sense of 


Humor 


. Sharing Interest in the 


Subject 


Some needed research in supervision. Research is just 


beginning in supervision. 
have been summarized in the foregoing pages. 


A few of the pioneer studies 


There is a 


great deal yet to be done, hardly any field to-day offering 


sO many opportunities for research as supervision. 


The 


major fields for investigation probably are: 


wn re 


struction 


SaNAoOe- 


10. 


. The analysis and testing of general and special methods 
. The selection and organization of subject matter 
. The selection and standardization of the materials of in- 


. The use of tests and measurements in supervision 

. Standards for evaluating and improving teaching 

. Devices for the improvement of teachers in service 

. Standards for evaluating and improving supervision 

. The administrative organization of supervision 

. The status of supervision—the age, training, tenure, etce., 
of supervisors at present 

The training of supervisors 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 603 


A detailed list of problems in these and other phases of 
supervision will be found at the end of this chapter. In 
the pages immediately following will be found a brief dis- 
cussion of some of the more pressing needs. Much work 
has already been done on some of the above topics from the 
point of view of the teacher, and the results are readily 
adaptable to the needs of the supervisor. In fact, many of 
the studies reported earlier in this chapter are equally valu- 
able as research in teaching or as research in supervision. 

Research needed to distinguish between learning pro- 
cedures and teaching procedures. Such distinctions are not 
always kept clearly in mind by supervisors and teachers. 
A good example of the confusion of ideas is the average per- 
son’s confusion between methods of learning and effective 
teaching procedures. Different writers distinguish varying 
numbers of learning types, but we may take Parker’s list 
of five for purposes of illustration: (@) acquiring motor 
control; (b) associative learning; (c) acquiring general 
and abstract meanings; (d) problem solving; and (e) ac- 
quiring habits of enjoyment. For each of these there is a 
most economical learning procedure. There is also for each 
a most effective teaching procedure. Obviously, the two 
procedures are not identical. An illustration of this differ- 
ence may be found in distinguishing problem-solving from 
the teaching of problem-solving. There are given below, first 
the steps in problem-solving, and second, a brief outline 
in. question form of the teaching procedure (teacher activi- 
ties) for problem-solving. The latter could be elaborated 
quite extensively if desired. 


PROBLEM-SOLVING 


1. Recognition of some perplexity, doubt, or confusion. 
2. Formulation of a tentative plan, guess, or hypothesis. 
3. Collection and critical evaluation of data 

4, Analysis of the facts into elements 

5. Classification of like elements 


604 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


PROBLEM-SOLVING—C ontinued 


. Tracing of relationships and sequences 

. Generalization 

. Verification (correspondence between prediction and actual 
happenings) 


CONIC 


TEACHING PROBLEM-SOLVING 


. Does the teacher keep the problem clearly before the pupils? 

. Does the teacher stimulate thought by 
(a) assisting pupils to analyze situations into parts, 

aspects, elements? 

(b) suggesting definite hypotheses? 
(c) recalling general principles? 

3. Does the teacher encourage pupils to maintain an attitude 
of suspended judgment? 

4. Does the teacher stimulate pupils to criticize each sugges- 
tion and to think out its possible consequences? 

5. Does the teacher stimulate the pupils to be systematic in 
selecting useful suggestions and rejecting useless ones? 

6. Does the teacher stimulate pupils to “take stock” of the re- 
sults from time to time? 

7. Does the teacher assist pupils to devise and use tabular and 
graphic methods of representation? 

8. Does the teacher stimulate pupils to express concisely ten- 
tative conclusions derived from time to time? 

9. Does the teacher stimulate pupils to verify their conclu- 

sions? 


| 


Any number of current discussions confuse teaching pro- 
cedures and the mental processes involved in the different 
types of learning. It is one thing to know the mental steps 
by which pupils acquire general and abstract meanings, for 
example, and quite another to know the teaching procedures 
most effective in guiding the pupils in this process. In gen- 
eral, the first set of activities constitutes things to know for 
the teacher, and the second, things to do. Such distinctions 
need to be kept clearly in mind in the supervision of 
teaching. | 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 605 


Research needed in the development of standards. This 
topic is, of course, a part of the one immediately preceding. 
Standards for the improvement of teaching should be com- 
posed of definite lists of items to observe stated in terms 
of teacher and pupil activities. Before such standards can 
be developed there must be more information, first about 
the specific activities which constitute good teaching, and 
second, more knowledge of the principles of teaching as 
derived from scientific experimentation. Both general and 
special standards are needed. Careful and exact research 
in the development of standards should not, however, inter- 
fere with the development of informal standards as now 
rather generally carried out. On the other hand, the tech- 
nique of standardization should be helpful to those inter- 
ested in the development of such lists and should facilitate 
their development. 

Research needed in teacher-rating. Two aspects of rating 
are usually distinguished: (1) rating to improve teaching ; 
(2) rating to evaluate teaching. The first type of rating 
(self-rating and otherwise) will be cared for eventually 
through the development of standard items to observe. The 
second seems destined to continue as a problem for some 
time. For certain reasons (summarized in Chapter XII of 
this volume) rating for purposes of evaluating the efficiency 
of teachers has not been particularly successful. The usual 
procedure is to list anumber of qualities or characteristics of 
the ideal teacher, and give to each of these items a weight 
such that the total approximates 100 or 1,000. But unfor- 
tunately in actual use the scores derived from such rating 
seales cannot be made to correlate with teaching success. 
There is much conjecture as to the proper explanation of 
this lack of correlation between general merit ratings so 
derived and teaching success measured by other objective 
criteria. The matter is extremely intricate and complex, 
requiring statistical analysis quite beyond the ordinary 


606 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


student. The chief difficulties revolve around the weighting 
of traits. A common error is to weight a trait more than 
once. McCall’s warning concerning this is as follows: ** 


Suppose that among other traits we have tested language abil- 
ity and mathematical ability, and that we wish to assign appro- 
priate weights to each ability. If, due to complicated test in- 
structions or roundabout descriptions of problems, the chief diffi- 
culty in the so-called mathematical tests is really language difficulty 
and not mathematical difficulty, assigning weights to the two tests 
would thus really mean the assignment of a double and hence 
an undue weight to language ability. The error of weighting 
the same trait more than once is very common. The error can 
be avoided only by a knowledge of each test’s correlations. Even 
though two tests have different names, if the correlation between 
them is very close, we can be pretty sure that the difference is in 
name only. 


Another error is to weight elements for every time they 
appear, thus getting disproportionate values. On this point 
Thorndike says: 7° 


Do not weight the same contributing element twice because it 
appears in two or more traits. Or, more adequately: Attach 
weights to elements according to the amount of their contribu- 
tions, irrespective of the number of symptoms in which they 
appear. A full determination of independent elements and their 
contributions, whether experimental or by the method of partial 
correlation coefficients, is very difficult, and has never been made in 
any case to my knowledge. 


There are many other similar difficulties, but to list them 
would only involve us in difficult statistical discussion. The 
two references cited just above contain excellent discus- 
sions suitable for the advanced student. 


24 From Wm. A. McCall, How to Measure in Education, pp. 216-17. 
Reprinted by permission of the Macmillan Co., publishers. 

25, L. Thorndike, ‘‘Fundamental Theorems in judging Men,’’ 
The Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. II, March, 1918, pp. 67-76. 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 607 


For everyday purposes there are two other facts about 
rating scales which should be noted, and which are usually 
overlooked. The first of these is that absolute failure in 
any one of the several items or qualities of which the rating 
scale is composed reduces the teacher ability not by an 
amount equal to the weight usually assigned to the item in 
the rating scale, but to zero. That is, if the teacher has no 
control over the subject matter which she teaches, she is a 
failure, and other qualities may be disregarded for the time 
being. The second fact usually overlooked is that a teach- 
er’s ability is not composed of a number of isolated ele- 
ments but of a combination of elements. Successful 
individuals seldom have identical combinations of elements. 
So each element must be studied with relation to various 
combinations and weighted accordingly. This is the same 
point brought out in the quotation from Thorndike above. 
A rating scale along these lines could probably be validated. 

Needed research upon methods and devices for training 
teachers in service. There was listed in Chapter XI a num- 
ber of means of improving teachers in service: teachers’ 
meetings, institutes, conferences, extension courses, etc. 
There is little or no detailed information about the relative 
effectiveness of these means, about present practices, or 
about how and why any one of these should be utilized to 
best advantage. For example, consider the use of super- 
visory bulletins. What information is available for the use 
of supervisors on the organization of teacher-training bul- 
letins, items of content, form, method of distribution, ete. 
Each of these things needs careful investigation. There is, 
to be sure, some valuable information obtainable from indi- 
vidual experts, but no established facts. 

Research ts needed upon the admimstrative organization 
of supervision. In Chapter II and in the earlier part of 
this chapter, studies of the organization of supervision were 
discussed. Some progress has been made. One of the best 


608 THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


ways of establishing an harmonious working organization is 
to define concisely the duties and functions of the groups 
that must work together. There are at present two excel- 
lent leads toward a science of organization. The first is 
Bobbitt’s procedure of listing the specific duties to be per- 
formed by school officials and then regrouping allied activi- 
ties into the same department making an ideal adminis- 
trative organization. The second method, one which will 
get about the same results as Bobbitt’s procedure, is that of 
job analysis in which the grouping of departments is done 
on the basis of a study of the activities of allied fields. 
Such procedures should furnish a fact basis for organiza- 
tion. 

There are many unsolved problems in supervision. The 
problems needing attention are almost innumerable. To 
list them all and discuss each even briefly would be impos- 
sible. The studies reported in the foregoing pages indicate 
the many related fields in which supervisory research can 
be earried on. Given below is an abbreviated list of needed 
investigation in some of the major phases of supervision. 


1. A Case Study of Supervision 
There is need for detailed stenographic reports of specific 
cases in supervision: These should indicate (a) setting— 
school conditions, ete.; (b) the lesson observed; (c) the 
supervisor’s diagnosis of the lesson; (d) the supervisory 
interview; (e) results accomplished. 

2. The Value of Supervision 
Two types of material may be collected: (a) statements 
by experts (opinions); (b) experimental evidence. An 
evaluation of different supervisory activities may be made 
by a number of superintendents, or the quality of work 
done in one group of schools under supervision may be 
compared with a similar group of schools without super- 

vision. 

3. The Cost of Supervision 
What is the cost of supervision? For general supervisors? 
Special supervisors? Principals? Supervising principals? 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 609 


etc. What are the relative amounts spent in different types 
of supervision? How much goes to clerical assistance, and 
how much to supervision? Give a comparative statement 
of the amounts spent in different sized cities. 

4. An Analytical Study of the Content of Articles, Studies, and 
Books on the Subject of Supervision 
This study should show tendencies in the content of ma- 
terials dealing with supervision. The technique is that used 
in other content studies. 

5. The Rules and Regulations of City School Kateri Pertain- 
ing to Supervision 
What are the rules of the Board of Education relating to 
the functions of supervision, as found in any handbook they 
may issue, in their proceedings, in the superintendent’s 
orders? 

6. A Time Study of Supervisory Activities 
Supervisors visit teachers, prepare instructional materials, 
select textbooks, and carry forward many supervisory ac- 
tivities. What are these activities, and how do supervisors 
distribute their time among them? 

7. Minimum Essentials in the Training Equipment of Super- 
visors 
Just what educational equipment should the supervisor 
have? What are the detailed abilities, facts, and attitudes 
that should constitute this equipment? There is need for 
a definite statement of training needs in the several fields 
of supervision. 

8. What Are the Personal and Professional Qualities Desirable 
in Supervisory Officials? 
Those supervisors that are most successful seem to possess 
to a higher than average degree certain personal and social 
qualities. What are these qualities? How are they to be 
attained ? 

9. A Study of the Age, Training, and Experience of Super- 
wisOors 
Average age at entrance, training at entrance, tenure of 
office, salary, kinds and amounts of later training, oppor- 
tunities for promotion, and many other items all lend 
themselves to statistical treatment. 

10. Turnover in Supervision 

A study of the tenure of office of special supervisors, gen- 
eral supervisors, principals, ete. 


610 


11. 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


17. 


18. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Productiwe Schoiarship among Public School Supervisors 
Such a study might take the nature of a tabulation of the 
volume, content, and quality of the articles, studies, and 
books written by public-school supervisors. 

The Attitude of Teachers toward Supervision 
The attitude of teachers toward supervision varies with 
the organization followed. What is the attitude of teachers? 
What are the contributing factors, good and bad? How 
remedy the detrimental factors? How develop the bene- 
ficial factors in all situations? 

A Study of the Lay Opinions, Attitudes, and Reactions to 
Supervision 
The public at large has a very hazy notion of the purposes, 
function, and organization of supervision. A study should 
be made of the reactions of typical communities to super- 
vision. What is the present status? What are some of the 
specific points that need clarification? Recommend prac- 
tical procedures. 

A Study of Errors in Supervision 
This study should constitute an application of the method 
of errors to supervision. 

The Ethics of Supervision 
Supervision has not yet reached a stage where a definite 
code of ethics has developed. For the most part the pro- 
cedure is individual. Supervision is an extremely delicate 
human undertaking and should be guided by the highest 
possible ideals of human relationships. 

A Stvdy of the Problems of Inexperienced Supervisors 
What are the problems that the beginning supervisors must 
face? What are the pitfalls of supervision? What are the 
high spots in the supervisory program for beginners? 

A Comparative Study of Supervisory Functions 
One very perplexing problem in the field of supervision is 
the administrative organization of teachers, principals, and 
supervisors for the improvement of instruction. There is 
no universally accepted working relationship for these 
groups. What does a comparative study of supervisory 
organizations show as to the proper functions and rela- 
tionships of these groups? 

A Job Analysis of the Work of the School Principals 
The selection, training, and adequate performance of the 
supervisory functions of the principal (elementary, junior, 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 611 


and senior high school) depends upon definite knowledge 
of the specific activities to be performed. The method of 
attack used in industrial education is suggestive. 

19. An Activities Analysis of the Supervisory Functions of the 
School Principals 
What activities does a time study of the supervisory func- 
tions of the principal (elementary, junior, and senior high 
school) show? How much time is given to each activity? 

How much importance is assigned to each activity? 

20, Hvaluating the Work of the School Principals 
Teachers are rated. A practical question in a large school 
system is, should principals be rated? If so, what are the 
points upon which such ratings should be based? How is 
the scheme to be administered? 

21. The Training of Principals for the Supervision of Instruction 
In general principals have not received specialized training 
for the principalship. They are as a rule, promoted 
teachers. What are the training needs of principals? 
What are the most effective methods of meeting these needs? 
What is the procedure in training principals in service 

found in typical school systems? 

22. A Job Analysis of the Work of the General Supervisor 
(See statement 18 above.) 

23. A Job Analysis of the Work of the Special Supervisor 
(See statement 18 above.) 

24. A Study of Supervisory Devices 
Experienced supervisors have through their experience 
picked up a considerable number of practical working de- 
vices. A collection of such supervisory devices should be 
of assistance to beginning supervisors. 

25. A Study of Supervisory Visits 
The number, kind, districts covered, purposes, results. Are 
they “visits on eall” or “visits of inspection”? To what 
extent does each prevail? 

26. The Group Conference 
A study of the special advantages of group conference. 
The content and method of organization for these confer- 
ences. Evaluation of their effectiveness. What are the 
qualities essential to successful conferences? 

27. The Individual Conference 
Problems for special analysis are: time spent in individual 
conferences, the content and technique of conducting such 


612 


28. 


29. 


39. 


31. 


32. 


33. 


34, 


35. 


36. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


conferences, the effectiveness of individual conferences, fac- 
tors essential to success. 

A Study of the Technique of Criticism 
Some supervisors antagonize the people with whom they 
work. What are the specific shortcomings that lead to an- 
tagonism? What are the characteristics of a successful 
technique of criticism? Use case material. 

Teachers Meetings 
The number, kind, place of meeting, attendance, manage- 
ment, topics for discussion, difficulties, successful devices, 
teachers’ reactions, values, and numerous other points need 
to be studied statistically and otherwise. 

Demonstration Teaching 
Frequency of use, the conditions under which it is used, 
the types of demonstrations given and the procedure for 
conducting such lessons. 

Directed Observation 
A study of the methods, practices, and procedures, and an 
evaluation of each. 

Lesson Planning 
Lesson planning viewed as anticipatory teaching is highly 
valuable. What is the attitude of teachers toward lesson 
planning? How are lesson plans used? What is put into 
lesson plans? What use is made by supervisors of lesson 
plans? 

The Use of Tests in Supervision 
What supervisory tests are available? How should they 
be administered? How should the results be used? What 
are the reactions of teachers to the use of tests for super- 
visory purposes? What are the outstanding needs? 

The Organization of Courses for the Training of Teachers 
in Service 
Many schools organize courses for training of teachers in 
service. What is the cost, and content of such courses? 

The Training of Teachers in Service 
What are the methods used by supervisors to improve the 
quality of work of teachers in service? When, where, and 
under what conditions are each of several devices used? 
Which devices are most helpful? 

Effective Methods for Planning for the Professional Reading 
of Teachers 
What are the methods most commonly used for encourag- 


37 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 613 


ing professional reading among teachers? What are the 
reactions of teachers to these methods, as measured by the 
amount of reading done? Which devices are most effective? 
Supplemental studies may also be made of the volume, 
range, and content of reading done by teachers. 


. A Study of Supervisory Programs 


Supervision should be guided by a clearly defined program. 
The year’s work should not be left to chance or expediency. 
To what extent is supervision now guided by such pro- 
grams? What is the content of these programs? What are 
their characteristics? What are the principles that should 
guide program making? 


38. The General Characteristics of Good Teaching 


40 


4] 


42 


43 


There is much difference of opinion as to what constitutes 
good teaching In the elementary, intermediate, and high- 
school subjects. There is need for a one, two, three state- 
ment of the characteristics of good teaching in each of the 
several subjects. 


. A Study of the Shortcomings (Errors) Found in Classroom 


Teaching 

The method of errors used extensively in certain educa- 
tional fields is applicable to the study of classroom teach- 
ing. Definite supervision may well follow a survey of 
errors in teaching. 


. A Study of the Difficulties Experienced by Teachers 


The technique is that of difficulty studies made in other 
fields. Separate studies may be made of the difficulties 
of beginning and of experienced teachers. 


. Standards for Improving Instruction 


There is need for definite, objective standards for improve- 
ing the quality of instruction in each of the elementary, 
junior high- and senior high-school subjects. Such stand- 
ards to be most satisfactory must be quantitative in char- 
acter. 


. The Organization of School Systems for the Hxperimental 


Solution of Instructional Problems 

What is the organization for the experimental solution of 
instructional problems? Which groups may contribute? 
Under what conditions may they contribute? What solu- 
tions are now contributed? 


. Making the Course of Study 


Who makes the course of study? What is put into the 


614 


44, 


45. 


46. 


47. 


48. 


49. 


50. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


course of study? What arrangement of materials is fol- 
lowed? : 

Selection of Textbooks 
What standards are used in the selection of textbooks? 
Who selects the textbooks? What relation do the super- 
visors have to the selection of textbooks? The principals? 
The teachers? Is there a system of free textbooks? 

The Selection and Standardization of Instructional Supplies 
In what official is the selection and standardization of in- 
structional supplies vested? What part do the supervisors 
play in the selection and standardization of instructional 
supplies? The principals? The teachers? 

Teacher Rating 
What are the elements that should constitute a rating scale? 
What weights should be assigned to the different elements? 
What minimum standard should be set for each contributing 
factor? 

Stimulating Teachers to Self-Appraisal, Self-Criticism, Self- 
Improvement 
What are the devices used to develop in teachers the ability 
to evaluate their own work? To what extent are teachers 
now so trained? What should be the nature of this train- 
ing? Its value? 

The Participation of Teachers in the Development of Instruc- 
tional Policies 
Many school administrators advocate wider participation 
of teachers in the determination of instructional and ad- 
ministrative policy? What are the specific activities in 
which teachers may profitably participate? What contri- 
butions are actually made? What is the attitude of admin- 
istrative officers? 

Building Teaching Morale 
Morale is, in the opinion of some, the greatest single factor 
contributing to good teaching. How is it developed? What 
are some practical devices? 

A Study of the Written Communications of Supervisors 
Supervisors prepare a considerable amount of typewritten, 
mimeographed and printed material for teachers. What 
are the kinds of material prepared? What is the content 
of these materials? What are the specific shortcomings 
manifested? What definite changes for the improvement 
of these materials can be made? What are the strong 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 615 


points of materials which appeal to teachers and carry 
over? 

51. The Use of Visual Aids in Supervision 
What visual aids are now in use in supervision? What 
visual aids are particularly adapted to the use of super- 
vision? How may these aids be most effectively used? 

52. The Community Activities of Supervisors 
Supervisors are asked to assist or to codperate in numerous 
community activities. What are those activities? How 
much time do they consume? What specialized training 
is required for successful participation in community ac- 
tivities? 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


1. Arcuer, C. P., “Status of Bulletin Supervision from State 
Departments of the United States,” Master’s Thesis, Iowa 
State University, 1923. 

2. AyER, Fred C., “The Rise of Special Supervision and De- 
partmental Organization,” Studies in Administrative Re- 
search, Seattle Public Schools, 1925, Bulletin No. 1. 

3. Ayer, Fred C., and Barr, A. 8., The Administrative Organi- 
zation of Supervision (D. Appleton and Co., in prepara- 
tion). 

4, Barr, A. §., “An Analysis of the Duties and Functions of 
Special Supervisors, a Study of the Detroit Supervisory 
Organization,” Bulletin, Bureau of Research, University of 

' Wisconsin, 1926. 








5. , “Study Recitation in History,” Historical Outlook, 
Jan., 1921. 
6. , “A Quantitative Analysis of the Activities of Good 


and Poor Teachers,” Bulletin, Bureau of Research, Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin, 1927. 

7. Barr, A. §., and others, Elementary School Standards for 
the Improvement of Teaching (Ann Arbor, Mich., Edwards 
Bros., 1924). 

8. Buiopaert, A. B., “The Most Effective Use of a Superintend- 
ent’s Time,” Proceedings of the National Education Associa- 
tion, Vol. 40, 1903, pp. 224-226. 

9. BruECKNER, Leo J., “The Value of a Time Analysis of Class- 
room Activity as a Supervisory Technique,” Elementary 
School Journal, Vol. 25, April, 1925, pp. 518-22. 


616 
LO; 


ib 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


LT 
18; 


19. 


20. 
21. 
22. 
23. 


24. 


25. 


26. 


THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION 


Brown, Edwin J., “Inspirational Aspects of Supervision,” 
Master’s Thesis, canard University, 1925. 

Cook, Albert S., Srurpson, I. Jewell, and Hnraty, Katherine, 
“A Year’s Soca of elementary Instruction in Caro- 
line County,” State Department of Education, School Bul- 
letin, Vol. 6, Jan., 1925. 

Courtis, S. A., “Measuring the Effects of Supervision,” 
School and Society, Vol. 10, July 19, 1919, pp. 61-70. 

CusuMan, C. J., “An Analysis of the Time of a Small Town 
Superintendent of Schools,’’ Master’s Thesis, Iowa State 
University, 1925. 

KIKENBERRY, D. H., “Status of the High-School Principal,” 
Doctor’s Thesis, Teachers College, Columbia University. 
Fieitp, A. M., “Supervision of the Teaching of Vocational 
Agriculture,” Doctor’s Thesis, University of Minnesota, 

1926. 

FreNcH, W. C., “The Correlation between Teaching Ability 
and Thirteen Measurable Classroom Activities,’ Master’s 
Thesis, University of Chicago, 1924. 

Harris, R. W., “The Organization of Supervision,” Master’s 
Thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1925. 

Herr, Ross, “The History of School Supervision in Ohio,” 
Thesis, University of Chicago, 1922. 

Jupp, Charles H., “Scientifie Organization of Supervision,” 
American Educational Digest, Vol. 45, Dec., 1925, pp. 
156-57. 

National Society for the Study of Education, Highteenth 
Yearbook, Part II (Publie School Publishing Co., 1919). 
McCatu, William, How to Measure in Education (The Mac- 

millan Co., 1922). 

Morrison, H. C., The Teaching Technique of the Secondary 
School (Ann Arbor, Mich., Edwards Bros., 1924). 

Pittman, M.S., The Value of School Supervision (Warwick 
and York, 1921). 

Reavis, W. C., “Constructive Student-Accounting in the Sec- 
ondary School,” Studies in Secondary Education, I, Uni- 
versity of Chicago. 

Rosenow, E. E., “A Study of the Activities of Good and 
Poor Teachers,’’ Master’s Thesis, University of Wisconsin, 
1925. 

Taytor, H. R., “Factors Involved in Teaching Success,” 
Master’s Thesis, Stanford University, 1923. 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SUPERVISION 617 


27. Taytor, H. R., “Factors Symptomatic of Teaching Ability,” 
Doctor’s Thesis, Stanford University, 1925. 

28. THORNDIKE, E. L., “Fundamental Theorems in Judging Men,” 
Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. II, March, 1918. 

29. WAPLES, Douglas, “Initial Difficulties in High-school Teach- 
ing” (University of Chicago, 1925). 

30. Winstrom, J. H., “Helping the Inexperienced Teacher,” 
Master’s Thesis, lowa State University, 1923. 





PS) 





es pres 
SANGRE ie 


INDEX 


Activities curriculum, Dewey on, 
211; Bobbitt on, 212. 

Activity analysis, description of, 
116; how to use, 118; sample 
of general plan, 119-121; 
samples of special plans, 122— 
132; Brueckner’s time-activity 
analysis, 127; objections to, 
132-136; Taylor on, 135; 
Wagner on, 153. 

Adams, E. A., on planning super- 
vision, 88-89; principal’s re- 
port blank, 521. 

Administration, relation to super- 
vision, Ch. ii; duties of su- 
pervisors in, 20; teacher par- 
ticipation in, 438. 

Alltucker, Margaret, on course of 
study, 223. 

Anderson, Barr, and Bush on im- 
provement of teachers in serv- 
ice, 441. 

Apperception, check list (obser- 
vation outline) for, 130. 


Barr, A. 8., on duties of super- 
visors, 11-13; on principles of 
supervision, 83-85; on _ the 
teacher aS a research worker, 
389 ff.; on checking the ef- 
fectiveness of the course of 
study, 238-249, 

Bibliographical notes. 
of each chapter. 

Bibliography, use of in teacher 
training, 427. 

Bird, Grace E., on supervisor’s 
personality, 506, 553. 


See end 


Bobbitt, Franklin, on the teacher 
and method, 161; principles of 
supervision, 75; curriculum ac- 
tivities, 212. 

Bonser, F. G., on planning su- 
pervision, 88. 

Brooks, S. 8., introducing teach- 
ers to measurements, 305. 

Brueckner, L. J., time-activity 
analysis, 127, 594. 

Buckingham, B. R., on the teach- 
er as a research worker, 385. 

Burton, W. H., definition of su- 
pervision, 17; principles of 
supervision, 82; on lesson plan- 
ning, 175; activity analysis for 
self-rating of supervisors, 508— 
513; report blank for visita- 
tion, 157. 

Buswell, G. T., on laboratory 
method in research, 373. 


Charters, W. W., curriculum con- 
struction, 218; personality, na- 
ture of, 550, 562. 

Check list. See Activity analy- 
Sis. 

Chicago Principals Club, super- 
visory policy, statement of, 41— 
43. 

Clubs, social and _ professional 
for teachers, 437. 

Coffman, L. D., definitions of su- 
pervision, 1-2; on teacher rat- 
ing, 448; on supervisory train- 
ing and personality, 564-566; 
criticisms of supervision, 498. 

Conference, types of, 158; gen- 


619 


620 


eral policy for, 159 7f.; Dorsey 
on, 160; Bobbitt on, 161; 
preparation for, 162; time for, 
163; professional nature of, 
171-173; follow up, 173; pre- 
teaching, 174; summary con- 
cerning, 176-181; report blank 


for, 157. 
Connor, W. L., on teacher rat- 
ing, 480 ff. 


Correspondence courses, improy- 
ing teachers in service, 435. 
Course of study, contents of, 
225-227; objectives in, 227 ff.; 
purpose of, 223; Kyte on, 224; 
Alltucker on, 223; checking 
the effectiveness of, 238-249; 
outline for judging, 249; unit 
organization of, 233; see also 
Subject matter and Curriculum 

construction. 

Course-of-study making, differ- 
ent from curriculum construc- 
tion, 214; organizing a system 
for, 219-223; supervisors’ ac- 
tivity, 215. 

Courtis, S. A., measuring value 
of supervision, 570. 

Crabtree, J. W., on personality 
of supervisor, 551. 

Criticism, of supervision, 21; by 
teachers, 495; Hill on, 498; 
Coffman on, 498; Wagner on, 
502. 

Criticism, of teaching, difficulties 
in way of, 164; technique of, 
181-184; characteristics of 
good, 165; Wagner on, 165; 
McMurry on, 165. 

Cubberley, E. P., on planning 
supervision, 89. 

Curriculum construction, differ- 
ent from course-of-study mak- 
ing, 214; steps in, 215-218; 
Charters on, 218; Bobbitt on, 
213; in Denver, 384, 236; in 


INDEX 


judging supervisors’ work, 
519; activities curriculum, 
211; see also Course of study 
and Subject matter. 


Data, collection of, in scientific 
method, 352-354; analysis and 
classification of, 360-362; 
Westaway on, 353, 361. 

Democracy, in supervision, 79— 
82; Dorsey on, 80; Hosic on, 81. 

Demonstration lessons, prepara- 
tion for, 429; uses of, 428— 
430; discussion of, 430; in 
emergencies, 430; Nutt on, 430 

Denver, Col., curriculum con- 
struction, 384. 

Detroit, Mich., supervisory pol- 
icy, 34-36. 

Dewey, John, child and curricu- 
lum, 202; activities curricu- 
lum, 211. 

Diagnosis, by tests, 313-317; ed- 
ucational, 329; Waples on, 330. 

Directed observation, 431; teach- 
ing, 432. 

Dorsey, Susan M., democracy in 
supervision, 80; on conference 
with teacher, 160. 

Drill, check list (observation out- 
line). for, 124-126. 

Dunn, Fannie W., definition of 
supervision, 2. 


Educational guidance, 334. 
Educational tests and measure- 
ments. See Measurements. 
Elliott, E. C., definition of super- 

vision, 2. 

Equipment, for principal’s office, 
288; for classrooms, 287; see 
also Materials of instruction. 

Examinations, traditional, 296; 
improvement of, 327. 


INDEX 


Exhibits, school, 436. 


Experimentation, in _— scientific 
method, 354-360; relation to 
observation, 355; illustration 
of, 356. 


Extension courses, in improving 
teachers in service, 435. 


Foote, J. M., definition of super- 
vision, 10; on supervisory plan- 
ning, 88. 

Formal discipline, as factor in 
the selection of subject mat- 
ter, 209. 


Genetic method, 377. 

Gosling, T. W., supervisory pol- 
icy, 40-41, 46—49. 

Group experimental method, Mc- 
Call on, 368. 

Guidance, educational, 334; vo- 
cational, 334. 


Hall, J. W., supervisory reports, 
154 ff. 

Hall-Quest, A. L., selection of 
textbooks, 265. 

Hanus, Paul, principles of ad- 
ministration and supervision, 
76. 

Harris, R. W., statistical study 
of supervision, 55. 

Historical method, 375-377. 

Hosic, J. F., on democracy in 
supervision, 81. 

Hunter, F. M., definition of su- 
pervision, 9; policy of super- 
vision, 30-34. 

Hypothesis, use in 
method, 362. . 


scientific 


Improvement of teachers in servy- 
ice, Ch. xi; need for, 404; 


621 


objections to, 405-409; activ- 
ities in, 410 ff.; Anderson, 
Barr, and Bush on type difti- 
culties, 441. 

Improvement of supervisors in 
service, Ch. xiii. 

Individual differences, check list 
(observation outline) for, 127. 

Institutes, status of, 414-417; 
functions of, 417; organiza- 
tion of, 419-423; topics for, 
423 7f.; faults of, 414-417; 
betterment of, 418 ff.; Lommen 
on, 415 ff. 

Intelligence tests, kinds of, 301; 
limitations of, 302. 

Intervisitation by teachers, 433. 

Items to observe. See Activity 
analysis. 


Johnson, Eleanor, supervisory 
plan, 103-105; annual report 
on supervision in Oklahoma 
City, 527. 

Judd, ©. H., on scientific study 
of supervision, 569. 


Kilpatrick, W. H., principles of 
supervision, 77. 

Kyte, G. C., on course-of-study 
making, 224. 


Laboratory method, 373; Buswell 
on, 373. 

Leave of absence, in improve- 
ment of teachers, 434. 

Lesson-plan outline, 175. 

Lommen, Georgiana, on 
tutes, 415 ff. 


insti- 


McCall, William, on defining 
problems, 352; on group ex- 


622 


perimental method, 368; on 
survey testing, 323; measuring 
educational outcomes, 323; on 
scientific method in education, 
346. 

MeMurry, F. M., on criticism, 
165; principles of supervision, 
74; standards for subject-mat- 
ter selection, 190. 

Madison, Wis., supervisory pol- 
icy, 40-41; 46-49. 

Management, classroom, check 
list (observation outline) for, 
122. 

Materials of instruction, selec- 
tion and standardization of, 
Ch. viii; place of supervisor in, 
255; textbooks, 257 j7f.; stand- 
ards for purchase and distri- 
bution, 289; standard list for 
auto mechanics’ shop, 281; 
standard list for kindergarten 
primary, 284-287; standard 
list for classroom equipment, 
287. 

Maxwell, C. R., definition of su- 
pervision, 15; on planning su- 
pervision, 88. 

Measurements, educational, Ch. 
ix; types of tests, 300 7f.; 
characteristics of good tests, 
363; Monroe on good tests, 
303; selection of, 303; admin- 
istration of, 305; testing by 
the teacher, 305; citywide test- 
ing program, 307-312; how to 
give, 305; tabulation of re- 
sults, 312; interpretation of re- 
sults, 313-317; remediai work 
to follow, 313-317; Monroe on 
remedial work, 314; supervis- 
ory uses of, 318 7f.; use in sur- 
veys, 320 7f.; McCall on sur- 
vey testing, 323; measuring 
educational outcomes, 323; 
McCall on measuring educa- 


INDEX 


tional outcomes, 323; uses in 
classroom, 325; in setting 
standards, 326; in improving 
examinations, 327; developing 
study directions, 328; practice 
tests, 329; use in research and 
experimentation, 335; relation 
to traditional examinations, 
296; relation to _ teachers’ 
grades, 295; difficulties, 297— 
306; Thorndike on measure- 
ment, 299. 

Meetings, teachers’ professional, 
410; organization of, 410; as 
check on supervisory efficiency, 
520. 

Merit systems, 437. 

Methods of teaching, responsibil- 
ity for, 61. 

Monroe, W. S., characteristics of 
good test, 303; on remedial 
work, 314. 

Museums and exhibits, 436. 


Newlon, J. H., definition of su- 
pervision, 8. 

Nutt, H. W., definition of super- 
vision, 14; unit organization 
of course of study, 233; teach- 
ers’ opinion of supervision, 
499-502; on demonstration 
teaching, 430. 


Oakland, Cal., supervisory pol- 
icy, 30-34. 

Observation, directed, 431; of 
teaching, Ch. v, Ch. vi; in sci- 
entific method, 352; relation to 
experimentation, 355. 

Observation outlines. See Actiy- 
ity analysis. 

Oklahoma City, plan of super- 
vision, 103-105; supervisory 
report, 527. 


INDEX 


Organization of supervision, 
problems of, Ch. ii; statistical 


study of, 55-63, 576; prin- 
ciples of, 66-67. 
Outlines for observation. See 


Activity analysis. 


Parker, S. C., on subject-matter 
selection, 191. 

Parrott, A. L., on teacher rating, 
448, 

Participation in administration 
and supervision by teachers, 
438. 

Pearson, Karl, on __ scientific 
method in social sciences, 348. 

Personality of supervisors, de- 
velopment of, 550; Charters 
on, 562; Bird on, 506; Crab- 
tree on, 551. 

Pittman, M. S., plan for super- 
vision, 91-95. 

Planning supervision, Ch. ii; 
steps in, 107; means of carry- 
ing out, 108; checking, 106; 
for small systems, 102; for 
grade groups or special sub- 
jects, 102; the Oklahoma City 
plan, 103-105; the Decatur 
plan, 102; the Saginaw objec- 
tives, 105; Pittman’s sample 
plan, 91-95; Adams’ plans, 
98-102; ‘Adams on, 88-89; 
Foote on, 88; Bonser on, 88; 
Maxwell on, 88; Cubberley on, 
89; Wood County, Ohio, plan, 
95-97; by the principal, 98- 
102; freedom in, 57-58; as 
check upon the supervision, 
518; reasons for, 109. 

Principal, place of, in supervi- 
sion, 43-46, 54; Adams on, 
88-89, 98-102; relation to su- 
pervisors, 58-59; planning su- 
pervision, 98-102; rating of, 


623 


516; equipment for office, 288, 

Problem, definition of, in scien- 
tific method, 351; McCall on, 
352. 

Program of supervision. 
Planning supervision. 
Pupil activity, observation of, 

129-131. 

Pupils, classification and promo- 
tion of, 318-320; check list 
(observation outline) for, 129. 

Purdom, L. J., supervisory pol- 
icy, 36-38. 


See 


Rating of principals, 516. 

Rating of supervision, cards for, 
508-516; teacher opinion of, 
495-502, 504-515; administra- 
tive checks, 517 7ff.; Burton on, 
508-513; self-rating, 508. 

Rating of teachers, theory of, 
Ch. xii; Coffman on, 448; Par- 
rott on, 448; reasons for, 449; 
uses of, 449; in promotion, 
transfer, and dismissal of 
teachers, 450; merit ratings, 
451; arguments against, 457— 
463; relation to professional 
standards, 457; abuses of, 
460; supervisory uses of, 463; 
self-rating, 465; present status 
of, 466; score cards for, 468 
ff.; by whom done, 63. 

Records of supervision. 
ports by supervisors. 

Records of supervisory visits. 
See Visitation. 

Reports by supervisors, blanks 
for, 157; Adams’ Philadelphia 
blank, 521; the Alabama 
blank, 523; Miss Johnson’s 
Oklahoma City report, 527; 
see also Visitation. 

Research and the teacher, 385 
ff.; Buckingham on, 385. 


See Re- 


624 


Research bureaus, functions of, 
378 ff.; the Akron Bureau, 
379; the Minneapolis Bureau, 
380; the Winnetka organiza- 
tion, 381-384. 

Research in supervision, Ch. x; 
and experimentation, Ch. x; 
use of tests in, 335; the scien- 
tific method in, Ch. x. 


School clubs for teachers, 437. 

Scientific method, development 
of, 341 7f.; relation to author- 
ity and speculation, 341 7f.; 
Trow on, 344; McCall on, 346; 
Pearson on, 348; Thomson on, 
349; summary statement of, 
349-351; discussion of steps 
in, 350; varied applications to 
education, 365 ff. 

Scientific study of supervision, 
Ch. xv; Judd on, 569. 

Seattle, Wash., supervisory pol- 
icy, 49-54. 

Selection and standardization of 
instructional materials. See 
Materials of instruction. 

Spain, C. L., definition of super- 
vision, 9; policy in supervi- 
sion, 34. 

Special supervision, beginnings 
of, 28-29; duties in, 17-20; 
relation to principals, 43-45. 

Standard tests and scales. See 
Measurements. 

Standardization of instructional 
materials. See Materials of 
instruction. 

Statistical method, 366-368. 

Strayer, G. D. and Englehardt, 
N.L., definition of supervision, 
14. 

Subject matter, principles of se- 
lection, 190 7f.; standards for 
judging, 190 7f.; MeMurry’s 


INDEX 


standards, 190; Parker’s 
standards, 191; and _ social 
needs, 192-196; relative val- 
ues in, 196-199; project or or- 
ganization of, 199-201; psy- 
chological organization of, 
201-207; Dewey on, 202; for- 
mal discipline a factor, 209; 
scientific studies in the selec- 
tion of, 189, 192; training 
teachers in the selection of, 
189. 

Superintendents’ policies in su- 
pervision, 30-33, 34-36, 40-41, 
46-49; definitions of supervi- 
sion, 8-11. 

Supervision, early definitions of, 
1-3; definitions by teachers, 3- 
8; by superintendents, 8-11; 
by educational theorists, 14— 
17; purposes of, 55-56; in 
large and small cities, 64; 
state and county, 66; organi- 
zation of, Ch. ii; special, be- 
ginning of, 28-29; what teach- 
ers expect of, 3-8; what su- 
perintendents expect of, 8-11; 
principles of, Ch. ii; Me- 
Murry’s principles, 74; Bob- 
bitt’s principles, 75; Hanus’ 
principles of, 76; Kilpatrick’s 
principles of, 77; Burton’s 
principles of, 82; Barr’s prin- 
ciples of, 83-85; criticisms of, 
21; evaluations by teachers, 
495-515; criticism by teachers, 
495; Nutt on teacher opinion, 
499-502; administrative de- 
mands for evidence of effi- 
ciency, 503; Burton on super- 
visory rating, 508-513; democ- 
racy in, 79-82; use of activity 
analysis in, 118; atmospheric 
versus analytic, 133-136; sci- 
entific study of, Ch. xv; inves- 
tigation in geography, 570; in- 


INDEX 


vestigation in penmanship, 
$72; investigation in rural su- 
bervision, 573; studies of ad- 
ministrative organization, 576; 
needed research, 602-615; 
planning of, Ch. iv; Foote on 
planning of, 88; Bonser on 
planning of, 88; Maxwell on 
planning of, 88; Adams on 
planning of, 88-89; Cubberley 
on planning of, 89; Pittman 
on planning of, 91-95. 
Supervisors, duties of, 11-13; 
types of, 28; number in cities, 
56; to whom responsible, 56; 
freedom in planning, 57-58; 
training and personality of, 
Ch. xiv; teaching experience 
of, 541; training other than 
technical, 548; Charters on 
personality, 550, 562; Crab- 
tree on personality, 551; Bird 
on personality, 553; Taylor on 
personality, 554; Wagner on 
personality, 557; Kelley on 


personality, 560; Coffman on. 


training and personality, 564— 
566; rating of, Ch. xiii; and 
course-of-study making, 215. 
Supervisory policy, Oakland Cal., 
30-34; Detroit, Mich., 34-36; 
Harris Teachers College, 36— 
38; Madison, Wis., 40-41, 46- 
49; Chicago, Ill, 41-43; 
Seattle, Wash., 49-54. 
Supervisory records and reports. 
See Reports by supervisors. 
Survey testing, 320 ff. 


Taylor, J. S., on activity analy- 
sis, 135; on supervisory types, 
554. 

Teacher, studying her at work, 
Ch. v; methods of, 115 7f.; 
use of tests in, 116, Ch. ix.; 


625 


use of activity analysis in, 
116-119; check list for, 119 
ff., 181; receives directions 
from whom, 62; looks to whom 
for assistance, 63; rated by 
whom, 63, Ch. xii; traveling, 
65; improvement in service, 
Ch. xi; as a research worker, 
385; meetings, types of, 410 
ff.; organization of meetings 
for, 410 7f.; feeling toward 
supervision, 3-8; participating 
in supervision, 438. 

Teaching, scientific study of, 
576-597; Barr on, 585, 599; 
Rosenow on, 585; analysis of 
good and poor teaching, 587 
ff.; Morrison on, 592; Brueck- 
ner on, 594; Waples on, 597; 
directed, teaching, 432. 

Tests, educational and _ intelli- 
gence. See Measurements. 
Textbooks, principles of selection 
of, 257 ff.; Hall-Quest on, 265; 
free, 268; standards for pur- 
chase and distribution, 270; 


accounting, 271-280; inven- 
tory, 272; depreciation of, 
274. 

Thomson, J. A., on scientific 


method, 349. 

Thorndike, E. L., on educational 
measurement, 299. 

Training and personality of su- 
pervisors, Ch. xiv. 

Training of teachers in service, 
See Improvement of teachers 
in service. 

Traveling teacher, 65. 

Trow, W. C., on scientific meth- 
od, 344. 


Visitation, general policy of, 143 
7f.; on schedule or on call, 
143-145; announced or unan- 


626 


nounced, 145; number, length, 
and time of visits, 147-149; 
entering and leaving a room, 
149; Wagner’s record card, 
152; Hall’s records of, 154— 


156; Burton’s report blank, 
157. 
Verification, step in_ scientific 


method, 363. 
Vocational guidance, 334. 


INDEX — 


Wagner, C. A., observation rec- 
ord, 152; on criticism of teach- 
ers, 165; on criticism of super- 
vision, 502; on supervisory 
types, 557. 

Waples, Douglas, on educational 
diagnosis, 330; on teaching 
difficulties, 600. 

Westaway, F. W., on scientific 
method, 353, 361. 


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